Indian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif attacked by gunmen
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MAZAR-I-SHARIF: The Indian consulate in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif came under attack on Sunday with an unknown number of gunmen attempting to enter the compound after twin explosions and shots were heard, the spokesman for the local governor said.
“We are being attacked. Fighting is going on,” an Indian consulate official said via telephone from inside the compound.
No details were immediately available on casualties or damage.
The official, who was hunkered down in a secure area within the complex, said all consulate officials were safe and accounted for.
A local police spokesman said security officials had cordoned off the area where sporadic gunshots were ringing out after a series of explosions.
Vikas Swarup, a spokesman for India's ministry of external affairs, said that no Indian casualties had been reported so far.
It came amid renewed efforts to reduce longstanding tensions between India and Pakistan and restart peace talks with the Afghan Taliban as part of a broader drive to improve stability in the region.
The consulate assault is the latest in a series of attacks on Indian targets in Afghanistan.
Nine civilians, including seven children, were killed in August 2013 when suicide bombers targeted the Indian consulate in the main eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, detonating an explosives-packed car.
The attack came as Indian security forces are still trying to suppress an assault on an air base near the border with Pakistan that has killed at least seven military personnel and wounded 20 others.
This is a developing story and will be updated accordingly.
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On DawnNews
Comments (74) Closed
Jan 03, 2016 10:51pm
It is all too predictable. Why did it all start after there were communication channels opened between the two countries?
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Jan 03, 2016 10:52pm
There goes another incident to sabotage Pakistan India peace efforts.
As usual blame will be on us.
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Jan 03, 2016 10:59pm
Some worse people in pakistan never change. They don't want India and Pakistan to prosper and live in peace. they are attempting all these to derail the dialogue between two countries.
Shame on these terrorists.
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Jan 03, 2016 11:02pm
so sad
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Jan 03, 2016 11:04pm
God knows what's going to happen...........God bless South Asia with peace and prosperity...
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Jan 03, 2016 11:05pm
Some elements in Pakistan wants peace process to derail and they are doing everything in their capacity to make that happen..Pathankot and now consulate attack...Unless a strong civilian government take charge in Pakistan there is no hope for peace in South Asia..
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Jan 03, 2016 11:13pm
Someone who is against Pak India normalization of relationship is doing all this.
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Jan 03, 2016 11:17pm
The same thing happened when the two sides decided to talk after Ufa. Someone is against NS-NaMo friendship. I guess after this attack it is no more a mystery who that someone is.
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Jan 03, 2016 11:24pm
Those who rely on religious differences to divide us are finding it hard to accept that the 2 nations can also resume relation and focus on development. We hope to come out stronger and suppress such intolerant elements within our respective borders.
- An optimist Indian
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Jan 03, 2016 11:25pm
is it a mere coincidence that whenever there is a the smallest chance of peace between Indian and Pakistan that such terror attacks start happening.
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Jan 03, 2016 11:29pm
The enemies of peace have reared their head in strength, what will the right thinking people do?
It's time to speak up and force the forces behind these actions to change tune...
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Jan 03, 2016 11:33pm
Now the ball is in Pakistan's court. From an Indian perspective there are people on Pakistan's side who do not want peace. Will the Pakistani government and military root these troublemakers out? Or is it going to be another set of denials from Pakistan's side. Time will tell.
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Jan 03, 2016 11:35pm
these terrorists must be brought to Justice and their sympathiser answered!
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Jan 03, 2016 11:35pm
India must support a peaceful resolution of kashmir issue. The source of instability of entire region.
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Jan 03, 2016 11:36pm
Care has been taken by these terrorists to attack military targets and consulates and not civilians so that India does not retaliate disproportionately.
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Jan 03, 2016 11:37pm
Something is fishy in these attacks on Indian consulate and airbase.
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Jan 03, 2016 11:37pm
As soon as India & Pakistan start the long process to repair their relationship, terrorist attacks sidetrack the initiatives and send everything to square one. Why?
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Jan 03, 2016 11:37pm
I strongly condemn this attack. Arm suppliers of one of these both countries(India and Pak) are doing these attacks to sabotage peace talks.
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Jan 03, 2016 11:50pm
Here we go again. Another drama to sabotage peace talks.
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Jan 04, 2016 12:00am
The enemy to humanity is at it again !!
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Jan 04, 2016 12:17am
Is Pakistan next?
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Jan 04, 2016 12:23am
The crazy people going around doing violence can not be lone wolves. The supporters and sponsors of these groups must be routed out by respective governments. There is no use pretenting nothing happened as these incidents could lead to larger conflicts. I believe that Nawaz is a sincere guy but I dont believe the same on the security apparatus in Pak and the non state actors. These lumpen elements will destroy the country support them...
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Jan 04, 2016 12:27am
These people want to keep the India Pak enemity alive for their own personal benefit and business. They are using Kashmir or Islam etc as a banner, but under the hood it is preserving their power and influence in the North Pak area.
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Jan 04, 2016 12:29am
first, attack on IAF base then attack on Pak army and now this ... with every difficult event, unprecedented problems follow thats why it is difficult ... if nawaz and modi remains firm and steadfast the perpetrators would themselves be marginalized
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Jan 04, 2016 12:37am
@Zombie, I wouldn't want to be simply irresponsible and go to sleep just because I shot the ball to others court. When I'm in the friendly game I'll make sure the other player return it back nicely so that we all enjoy the lovely show which started for a good cause!
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Jan 04, 2016 12:37am
@Muslim Medina Let us all blame someone else for these terror tactics and then they will stop out of shame.
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Jan 04, 2016 12:40am
@AXH That is exactly why. Anything in the direction of peace hurts their interests. Countries and their people can suffer, they would not care.
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Jan 04, 2016 12:42am
I strongly believe this will not stop gracing relations between India, Pak and Afghanistan. Terrorists can only create spike, cannot break the line. In fact the relations will get better and better.
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Jan 04, 2016 12:50am
@Ramesh krishnan what about similar some elements of Indian society or forces...
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Jan 04, 2016 01:06am
Peace loving and progress oriented Indians and Pakistanis will easily see through this ruse. Don't worry the night will get even darker when we will finally come to the dawn of peace, understanding and progress. Let us all commit to overcome the pettiness to build a better future for us and generations to come.
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Jan 04, 2016 01:10am
@Muslim Medina rightfully so
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Jan 04, 2016 01:37am
What these terrorists and their supporters telling to innocent human beings is,"If we are going to doom,we take you too together".What's the need of the hour is,all sane citizens irrespective of nationality,race and religion should be firm,calm and courageous against these insane evil forces.
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Jan 04, 2016 01:44am
From India to Turkey... There are no News but Bad News of... Terrorist, Suicide Bomb, Kidnap, New missiles, beheadings, killed etc etc.
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Jan 04, 2016 01:47am
Its India and Afghanistan problem, don't bring Pakistan in it.
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Jan 04, 2016 01:51am
@IamPakistan rightly said no peace possible between the two unless n until kashmir issue is resolved.
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Jan 04, 2016 01:55am
Pathonkot was a result of Indian Kashmir leader Afzal Guru being hanged. It was claimed as revenge by Indian Kashmiris.
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Jan 04, 2016 02:07am
@azim - How do you know that the people were from Pakistan and it was not all staged?
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Jan 04, 2016 02:13am
Some foreign powers sitting right in Afghanistan and overlooking the region don't want peace between india and Pakistan. If these two countries will be peaceful, who will buy their weapons? and who will act as their assistant in the region to put a check on china ??
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Jan 04, 2016 02:21am
Just imagine, friendly relations between india and Pakistan will be able to crush all these terrorist, hence the reason they are starting trouble to destabilize the improving relations. India and Pakistan should put these peace talk on fast track!
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Jan 04, 2016 02:26am
@Khurram jadoon Already started deflecting blame?
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Jan 04, 2016 02:43am
@Zombie , No blame game please. Pakistan is doing its bestto get rid of terrorists. It has its own challenges of fundamentalism that got rooted over 4 decades. It will take time to get rid of bad eggs and set the right curriculum in place to change the mindset of misguided weirdos.
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Jan 04, 2016 02:44am
@yense, Amen brother. We never such positive focus. Thanks and greetings to all at home and around.
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Jan 04, 2016 02:53am
It is all clear who is against Pak and India peace, whether it is these islamic or Hindu extremists or those who wants the two countries not to have peace otherwise it will be hard to sell their weapons. We need to understand who these enemies are, these are enemies of piece and they want us to always remain in state of war and not grow or become stanble. We should not fall prey to these elements and not let the two countries start the blame game and start fighting, we should know (now) how we can beat these elements by peace and start working together towards and economic well-being for both the countries, education, getting rid of poverty and be tolerant of each other's religion and existence.
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Jan 04, 2016 03:05am
It can very easily be work of a third country.
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Jan 04, 2016 03:10am
Some forces sabotage TAPI gas line.
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Jan 04, 2016 03:15am
@Muslim Medina
I hope not. Let both govt.'s keep the communication open, that way there is no misunderstanding.
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Jan 04, 2016 03:16am
@IamPakistan
Kashmir is not the source, it is just the symptom.
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Jan 04, 2016 03:21am
Its funny how the Indians without any knowledge put all the blame on Pakistan. Height of immaturity by the Indians as usual
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Jan 04, 2016 04:00am
If Modi government was serious enough to visit Pakistan and to take a fresh start towards peaceful existence, then Indian government would not hesitate in standing firm on its stance of the last visit of its PM to Pakistan. And no more misunderstanding will sabotage the road to peace.
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Jan 04, 2016 04:19am
Somebody does not want talks between India and Pakistan to proceed. I hope our leaders are smart to see thru this.
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Jan 04, 2016 04:27am
@Ramesh krishnan This is not the case, Pakistan is busy fighting terrorism in its own backyard, you cannot keep blaming every terrorist attack left-right-centre on Pakistan. Indian has a heavier involvement in Afghanistan for reasons well known to all of us. Own upto it.
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Jan 04, 2016 04:53am
@Arif seems true
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Jan 04, 2016 04:56am
Every time India and Pakistan makes an attempt at peace, we are sure to have Non-state militants launch one or more attacks.
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Jan 04, 2016 05:06am
@Tushar Singh India should understand the common enemy of IndoPak peace process and should not react immaturely as it did in the past to stop and delay the peace process because by doing so the common enemy wins only as the enemy gets the intended reaction.
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Jan 04, 2016 05:09am
@Fast The timings makes it look fishy, God knows better.
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Jan 04, 2016 05:38am
@Zombie @Ramesh Krishnan @ Azim
How do you know that these attacks were orchestrated by Pakistan? Please, show some maturity and not resort to the finger pointing that happens everytime talks start. After all, isn't that what the attackers hope to accomplish?
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Jan 04, 2016 05:41am
Indian government still supports the Northern Alliance war lords who are at odds and still ethnically cleanse and harass Pashtuns so it's pretty clear Taleban and Afghan Haqqani tribal clan members would be trying to strike them. Many of these so called consulates are actually centers where anti Pakistan activity is promoted and supported, it's worth mentioning. They have no business being there. But that's a separate subject.
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Jan 04, 2016 05:41am
@azim do you have proof Pakistan was responsible? Share us your Intel
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Jan 04, 2016 05:53am
@Zombie frankly till Kashmir is solved it's hard to ever imagine a lasting sustainable peace. You can't deny Kashmiris their rights otherwise it keeps back firing it seems. Sad but true
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Jan 04, 2016 05:56am
@Zombie retaliate against who? If the Indians get involved militarily in Afghanistan it'll be another migraine for them. There are already 21 indian states that have domestic terrorist and insurgency movements - all of which have claimed more Indian lives
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Jan 04, 2016 05:59am
@Sachin sounds more like your media and your RSS, Shiv Sena.
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Jan 04, 2016 06:26am
@Ramesh krishnan ... As an Indian, let me remind that there are some elements on our side too who wants to wreck peace process. It is easy to get swayed by emotions, but let's not our knee jerk reaction lead us to trap laid by few negative people on both sides of border. Hopefully culprits are punished.
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Jan 04, 2016 06:37am
These attacks can easily be connected with each other. Last week attack in mardan and yesterday IED blast on pak army convey and these attacks have some deep link with each other. Either we are doing this with each other or someone Else taking benefit of hostility between the two countries.
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Jan 04, 2016 06:43am
@AXH no there wasnt
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Jan 04, 2016 06:52am
@IamPakistan :don't link terror attack with Kashmir. You should learn from other Pakistanis......
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Jan 04, 2016 07:12am
@noshin - We all share your feeling.
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Jan 04, 2016 07:18am
@Iztraab - it is a terror attack. Not a Drama.
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Jan 04, 2016 07:23am
@Sonny Afridi - Indians do not want to be involved in Afghanistan. They told so to the United States.
They are building roads and Parliament because progress will benefit all.
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Jan 04, 2016 07:30am
@IamPakistan not at all 100% gaurenty .have to identify the black sheep found everywhere
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Jan 04, 2016 08:36am
@Arif
To answer this question, people has to think who has benefited from the India-Pakistan conflict and that the powers to start/stop the conflict
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Jan 04, 2016 09:13am
Indians still think they are confident about the workability of TAPI gas pipeline and land route security passing through Pakistan?
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Jan 04, 2016 09:36am
@Pakistani
100% agree with you
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Jan 04, 2016 10:12am
Some people are trying hard to stop the brothers India and Pakistan from working together. People and governments of both the countries should know this and work together to sideline these people.
This should start with common people like us who should instead of pointing fingers or trying to blame without full knowledge, stand up and say no matter who is doing it, it is wrong.
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Jan 04, 2016 12:15pm
Feel sorry for the Indians, nothing works out for the poor ill fated fellows. They should live with their ordeal.
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