Pakistani and U.S. officials have held their latest talks in Washington on how to expand cooperation in tackling the threat posed to regional security by an affiliate of the Islamic State group and the Pakistani Taliban, Pakistan's foreign ministry said Monday.

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A joint statement said Pakistani diplomat Haider Shah and the State Department's coordinator for counterterrorism, Ambassador Elizabeth Richard, chaired the weekend talks.

The talks occurred amid a surge in militants attacks by the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, and an Afghan branch of the Islamic State group. The TTP is an ally of the Afghan Taliban that seized power in Afghanistan in 2021.

Pakistan's military recently said a suicide bombing that killed five Chinese engineers and a Pakistani driver in March was planned in Afghanistan and that the bomber was an Afghan citizen. Kabul has denied the charge.