Six die in attack near Pakistani consulate

Kabul, Jan 13  At least six policemen were killed on Wednesday in a terror attack apparently targeted at the Pakistani consulate in Jalalabad city in Afghanistan, media reports said.

Afghan security forces battled gunmen barricaded in a house near the consulate, which the attackers had apparently tried to enter, a Pakistani news report said.

Xinhua news agency reported earlier that a blast took place near the Pakistani consulate, located in an area which is also home to the Indian and Iranian consulates as well as a private school.

"The bomb attack targeted a police vehicle near the Pakistani consulate," a security source told Xinhua.

But a report in Dawn online newspaper said the fighting erupted near the Pakistani consulate after a suicide bomber blew himself up, killing as many as six people.

It quoted a security source as telling Afghanistan's Tolo News that the suicide bomber, who pretended to be a visa seeker, detonated himself after being prevented from entering the consulate.

"Officials said three attackers are inside the consulate and a gun battle between security forces and attackers is ongoing."

The blast comes 10 days after a terror attack near the Indian consulate in Afghanistan's Mazar-i-Sharif city.