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WORLD NEWSThursday 14 January 2016

U.S. State Department’s Special Representative for North Korea Policy Sung Kim, center, speaks IS branch attacks a Pakistani
after a meeting with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts to discuss a variety of bilateral
and multilateral responses to the North Korea’s nuclear test in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, mission in Afghanistan, kills 7
Jan. 13, 2016.
LYNNE O’DONNELL
(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A branch of the Islam-
South Korea fires machine gun warning ic State group claimed responsibility for an attack
shots after North Korean drone seen Wednesday on Pakistan’s Consulate in eastern Af-
ghanistan that killed at least seven members of the
HYUNG-JIN KIM dition to its arsenal. In 2013, Since Friday, South Ko- Afghan security forces.
Associated Press rea has been blasting anti- The attack in Jalalabad, the capital of the volatile
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — state media said North Pyongyang propaganda Nangarhar province that borders Pakistan, started
South Korea on Wednesday and K-pop songs from huge when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives
fired 20 machine gun warn- Korean leader Kim Jong speakers along the border. vest outside the diplomatic mission, said Attaullah
ing shots after a North Ko- The North, which calls the Khyogani, spokesman for the province’s governor.
rean drone briefly crossed Un had watched a drone broadcasts an act of war The explosion triggered a gunbattle between Af-
the rivals’ border, officials meant to threaten its sys- ghan security forces and the militants. Along with the
said, the first shots fired in attack drill on a simulated tem of government, is using policemen killed, seven people were also wounded
a Cold War-style standoff speakers of its own in an in the attack, Khyogani added.
between the Koreas in the South Korean target. attempt to keep its soldiers He said all three attackers were killed, including the
wake of the North’s nucle- from hearing the South Ko- suicide bomber. The two gunmen, who later took
ar test last week. In 2014, Seoul officials rean messages. positions in a guesthouse close to the consulate,
The North Korean drone Seoul said Wednesday were killed hours later, Khyogani said.
was flying dozens of meters discovered what they that thousands of North The U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group, which moni-
(yards) south of the border Korean leaflets, likely sent tors militant trafficking, said the affiliate known as the
and turned back to the called several North Ko- across the border by bal- “Khorasan Province of the Islamic State” claimed
North after the South fired loons, have been found in three of its “soldiers” attacked the consulate and al-
the shots, South Korean de- rean drones that had flown the South. Some described legedly killed “dozens” of the mission’s staff.
fense and military officials South Korean President Park Hazrat Hussein Mashraqiwal, the spokesman for the
said, requesting anonymity across the border. Geun-hye and her govern- provincial police chief, said three police and two in-
because of office rules. The ment as “mad dogs.” telligence officers were among the killed and three
shots did not hit the drone. Those drones were crude North Korea’s propaganda civilians were among the wounded.
North Korean drone flights machine is using the nucle- It was the first insurgent-style attack on a Pakistani
across the world’s most and decidedly low-tech, ar test to glorify Kim’s lead- diplomatic mission in Afghanistan, an official at the
heavily armed border are ership and describing it as Pakistani Embassy said, speaking on condition of
rare, but have happened but were still considered a necessary step to fight anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the
before. against what it calls a U.S.- media.
North Korea has in recent a potential new security led attempt to overthrow Pakistani government properties have come under
years touted its drone pro- the North’s system.q attack in the past during protests by Afghans angry
gram, a relatively new ad- threat. at Islamabad’s perceived support for the Taliban,
who have waged war on the Kabul administration
Animosity has been high for more than 14 years.
The scene of the attack is close to a hospital and
since the North’s claim on schools as well as the Indian Consulate. The schools
were evacuated, officials said.
Jan. 6 that it tested a hydro- The Pakistani Consulate is usually busy during morn-
ing rush hour as people queue for visas. The suicide
gen bomb. There is wide- bomber joined the visa queue before blowing him-
self up, officials said. All consular staff were quickly
spread skepticism over the evacuated.
In Islamabad, the foreign affairs ministry condemned
H-bomb claim, but what- what it called “the terrorist attack” on its consulate
and requested a thorough investigation. One official
ever the North detonated at the consulate was slightly injured by broken glass,
it said.
underground will likely push The office of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
said Afghan President Ashraf Ghani telephoned him
the country closer toward to guarantee enhanced security for Pakistani diplo-
mats in Afghanistan.q
a fully functional nuclear

arsenal, which it still is not

thought to have. The North

previously conducted

atomic bomb tests in 2006,

2009 and 2013.