IS claims attack at Pakistan embassy that wounded guard

By MUNIR AHMED
Associated Press

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for last week’s shooting at the Pakistani embassy in Afghanistan in which the head of the mission escaped unharmed but a guard was wounded.

In a brief statement late Saturday, IS claimed two of its fighters attacked “the renegade Pakistani ambassador and his guards” while they were in the Pakistani embassy’s yard, wounding a guard and inflicting damage to the building. It gave no further details.

Friday’s assault in the Afghan capital Kabul wounded Pakistani guard Israr Mohammad, who belongs to the military’s commando unit. But the mission’s chief, Ubaid-ur-Rehman NizamaniIt, was unharmed.

The attack came amid rising tensions between the South Asian neighbors over Islamabad’s claims that anti-Pakistan government forces are orchestrating militant attacks from hideouts in Afghanistan.

Mohammad was transported to Pakistan for medical treatment.

In Islamabad, the Foreign Ministry said it trying to confirm the IS claim.

___

Associated Press writer Maamoun Youssef in Cairo contributed.