3 injured in IED blast outside Pakistan Consulate General in Jalalabad: FO spokesperson
An improvised explosive device (IED) went off outside the Pakistan Consulate General in Jalalabad, Afghanistan on Sunday, Foreign Office spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal said.
In a post on Twitter, the FO spokesperson said that all Pakistani staff were safe, however, added that "one policeman and two applicants are reportedly wounded."
"We are in contact with Afghan authorities to ensure strengthened security for Consulate General’s premises and personnel," he added.
The consulate had been shut down in August last year, before resuming operations two months later.
Pakistan had cited ‘undue interference’ by the governor of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province in its working and other security concerns as the reasons for the consulate’s closure.
The Foreign Office had said that the consulate is resuming its visa operations “after assurances by the Afghan government that all necessary and required security will be provided to the Consulate Generals.”
The eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, also the provincial capital of Nangarhar, has seen violence erupt multiple times in the recent past.
Most recently, on August 19, a series of bombings struck restaurants and public squares, wounding at least 34 people as the country marked the 100th anniversary of its independence.
No group claimed responsibility for the 10 bombs but both, the militant Islamic State (IS) group and the Afghan Taliban militants, operate in the area.
Earlier, in May, three explosions had ripped through the Afghan provincial capital, killing three people and wounding another 20.
No one had claimed responsibility for this attack either.