The Foreign Office (FO) said on Monday that it was in “active contact” with Afghan authorities regarding investigation into the attack on the Pakistan Embassy in Kabul as the government of Afghanistan said it has arrested the alleged attacker.

Last week, the embassy in Kabul came under attack with Chargé d’Affaires (CdA) to Afghanistan Ubaidur Rehman Nizamani targeted. Nizamani was unscathed but his guard was critically wounded.

The Islamic State group’s Khorasan chapter (IS-K) on Sunday had claimed responsibility for the attack, confirming that it was targeting the Pakistani envoy.

The statement, posted on social media in Arabic, said two armed assailants attacked the Pakistani envoy and his guards with “medium weapons and snipers”, while they were in the embassy’s courtyard.

Subsequently, the FO had said it was verifying the veracity of the claim.

Earlier today, Afghan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed that a foreign member of the Islamic State (IS) group has been arrested in connection with the attack.

“This person is a citizen of a foreign country and a member of IS,” he tweeted.

“The investigation revealed that this attack was jointly organised by IS and rebels. Some foreign malicious circles are behind the attack and the aim was to create distrust between the two brotherly countries,” Mujahid added.

Responding to the Afghan spokesperson’s tweet, FO spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said the investigation was ongoing and the government was following it.

“We also remain in active contact with the concerned Afghan authorities on the matter,” she said. “We are confident that the terrorist attack targeting our Head of Mission in Kabul, will be fully investigated and the perpetrators and their abettors will be brought to account.”

Baloch added that Pakistan remained resolute in its commitment to fight the scourge of terrorism.

Embassy attack

The FO, in a statement released on Friday had confirmed that the target of the attack was Nizamani, who remained unhurt.

The FO had “strongly condemned” the attack, but added the embassy would continue to function normally and there were no plans to withdraw diplomats from Kabul. The Afghan chargé d’affaires was also summoned to the foreign ministry to formally protest over the attack.

According to an official, Nizamani was walking in Pakistan mission’s lawn in Kabul’s Kart-i-Parwan neighbourhood when terrorists shot at him.

The shots hit a security guard, identified as Sepoy Israr Mohammad, who was “critically injured” while attempting to save Nizamani, according to the FO.

Mohammad, who was hit by two bullets, was shifted to a hospital and later moved to Peshawar via helicopter.

Nizamani has been in Kabul for less than a month since he took over the charge as head of mission, replacing former ambassador Mansoor Ahmed Khan on November 4.