Afghan officials and NATO forces in Afghanistan said they have doubts about the recent suicide attack on the eastern city of Jalalabad whether it was an offshoot Islamic State, the Islamist militant group fighting mainly in Syria and Iraq , or not . The bombing which killed at least 33 people , was claimed by a spokesman pledging allegiance to IS, also known as ISIS and locally in Afghanistan as "Daesh". President Ashraf Ghani was quick to blame the group for the atrocity. Any direct involvement by Islamic State would mean the ultra-violent movement had spread beyond the Middle East and north Africa, and increase the challenge faced by Afghan forces already struggling to counter Taliban insurgents. "We have not yet seen evidence of ISIS direction or support of the attacks," Lt. Col. Christopher Belcher, spokesman for the international military coalition in Afghanistan , said in a statement. "Jalalabad continues to be an area with significant Taliban influence , and this attack fits the pattern of past Taliban attacks in the region , underscoring that this attack does not represent a fundamental change in the security environment." A spokesman for Afghanistan's Ministry of Defence also expressed doubt about links with Islamic State. "I do not believe that it was carried out by Daesh," Brigadier General Dawlat Waziri said on Wednesday. He added that the recently formed Islamic State of Khorasan, a old term to describe Afghanistan and Pakistan, was made up of small groups of Taliban fighters who had switched allegiance. "We cannot ignore these forces, but they will not be as powerful as Daesh fighters in Syria and Iraq," Waziri said .
