At least seven Afghan forces were killed on Wednesday when militants launched a four-hour gun and bomb siege near the Pakistani consulate in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, officials said. \"Seven of our security forces were killed and seven others wounded as a result of the terrorist attack,\" interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said on Twitter.

Later, IS jihadists claimed responsibility for the bomb siege targeting the Pakistani consulate, in a first such attack by the group on the Pakistani government. The IS group tweeted that two of its fighters blew themselves up at the scene by detonating explosive belts.

The attack comes amid renewed international efforts to revive peace talks with the Taliban, locked in a tussle for supremacy with IS jihadists in Afghanistan.