Daily Times

A security guard was wounded Friday by shots fired at Pakistan’s embassy in the Afghan capital, in what Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called “an assassination attempt” on the head of the mission. “I demand immediate investigation & action against perpetrators of this heinous act,” Sharif tweeted. A Kabul police spokesman said one suspect had been arrested and two light weapons seized after security forces swept a nearby building “and prevented the continuation of gunfire”. Although Pakistan does not officially recognise Afghanistan’s Taliban government, it kept its embassy open even as the hardline Islamists took over in August last year, and maintains a full diplomatic mission.

An embassy official told AFP a lone attacker “came behind the cover of houses and started firing”. “The ambassador and all the other staff are safe, but we are not going outside of the embassy building as a precaution,” he said. A spokesman for Afghanistan’s foreign ministry said they strongly condemned the “failed attack”.

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan will not allow any malicious actors to pose a threat to the security of diplomatic missions in Kabul,” it said in a statement. “Security agencies will investigate this incident seriously.

After identifying the perpetrators, they will be punished according to law.”

The attack comes just days after Hina Rabbani Khar, Pakistan’s minister of state for foreign affairs, visited Kabul for talks with the Taliban government.

Pakistan has complicated relations with the Taliban, with Islamabad long accused of supporting the Islamists even while backing the US-led invasion of Afghanistan that toppled them following the 9/11 attacks. Pakistan is home to more than a million Afghan refugees, and the porous border they share is frequently the scene of clashes.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the assassination attempt on Pakistan’s Head of Mission in the Afghan capital Kabul Ubaid Nizamani, calling for an immediate inquiry into the incident. “I strongly condemn dastardly assassination attempt on Head of Mission, Kabul,” he said in a tweet. “I demand immediate investigation and action against perpetrators of this heinous act.”

The prime minister lauded the bravery of the security guard, who received bullet wounds while saving the life of the envoy. “Salute to brave security guard, who took bullet to save his [Head of Mission] life,” he said and prayed for his swift recovery.

The prime minister also spoke to Ubaid Nizamani and felt relieved that he was safe. “I expressed the solidarity of government and people with him, while assuring full support and assistance to him and mission on all counts. I also conveyed prayers for swift recovery of brave security guard,” the prime minister wrote in another tweet.