An Afghan teacher (in brown), helps school children run from the site of clashes near the Pakistan consulate in Jalalabad, capital of Nangarhar province

J A L A L A B A D , Afghanistan, Jan 13, (RTRS): Islamic State claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on the Pakistani consulate in Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday that was followed by a deadly gun battle lasting several hours. Afghan officials said all three attackers and at least seven members of the security forces died during the attack by the radical Islamist movement which has so far avoided striking high-profile Pakistani targets.

The attack, which comes amid efforts to restart the stalled peace process with the Taleban and ease diplomatic tensions between India and Pakistan, resembled an assault on the Indian consulate in the northern city of Mazar-i- Sharif last week. Witnesses in Jalalabad, the main trade gateway to the Khyber Pass and Pakistan, said heavy gunfire and a series of explosions could be heard during the battle and residents and children from a nearby school were evacuated. Nangarhar, the province in which Jalalabad is located, has become the main Afghan stronghold of Islamic State (IS), which has battled the Taleban for leadership of the Islamist insurgency. Attaullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said a suicide bomber had tried to join a queue of people seeking visas to Pakistan and blew himself up after being prevented from entering the building.

Islamic State said on its official Telegram messaging service channel that three members wearing suicidebomb vests carried out the attack, which it said had killed dozens of people including “several Pakistani intelligence officers”. It said two suicide attackers had been killed while a third escaped. Pakistan condemned the attack but said all members of the consulate staff were safe, with one official slightly injured by broken glass.