Islamabad, Nov 7 (IANS): Unidentified gunmen on Monday shot dead a senior Pakistani official near his residence in Afghanistan's eastern Jalalabad city, embassy sources said.

Two gunmen riding a motorcycle sprayed bullets at Nayyar Iqbal Rana, Assistant Private Secretary at the Pakistani consulate, outside his residence in the evening, the sources said. The gunmen fled after the incident.

Giving details of the incident, an embassy official told Xinhua that Rana came under attack at 6 p.m. when he reached home from the consulate. Rana received two bullets, he said, adding that the consulate general and other officials shifted the body to a local hospital for autopsy.

"There had been serious threats to Pakistani embassy and consulate officials in Afghanistan and we had taken up the issue with the Afghan authorities. We had called for security of our staffers in Kabul and consulates," he said.

There was no word from the Afghan officials about the incident. No group or individual has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.