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Updated: Jan 15, 2016 19:01 IST

A top Afghan police official has accused Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency and other elements in the region of backing the Islamic State.

Fazel Ahmad Sherzad, the police chief of Nangarhar province, made the allegation close on the heels of an attack on the Pakistani consulate in Jalalabad that was claimed by the IS.

Seven Afghan security personnel were killed in Wednesday’s attack carried out by a group of terrorists, including a suicide bomber.

“Daesh militants are supported by regional countries, especially Pakistan, but government forces are investigating the attack on the Pakistani consulate,” Sherzad was quoted as saying by Tolo News channel.

Sherzad described the attack on the Pakistani mission as worrying and accused the ISI of helping the Islamic State.

Officials of the Nangarhar provincial council questioned how the attackers had the infiltrated the heavily guarded zone where the Pakistani mission is located. They said it was surprising that militants managed to enter a so-called safe area.

The Jalalabad strike was the first insurgent attack on a Pakistani mission in Afghanistan.

Read: 7 Afghan security men killed in Jalalabad gunfight, IS claims attack

“I don’t know how the attackers entered the consulate despite there being many checkpoints near the consulate,” said Sohrab Qadiri, a provincial council member.

Amid a surge in the activities of the Islamic State in Nangarhar, residents have criticised the government and security forces for not tackling the group that has carried out several attacks since its emergence in Afghanistan last year.

Afghanistan has for long accused the ISI of backing and funding militant groups in the country to pursue its strategic objectives.

Political analyst Jawed Kohistani told Tolo: “There are groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan that do not see peace and security in their interest and they want to achieve their interests through insecurity.”