Police officers and ambulances on road cordoned off after a blast outside a court building in Islamabad
Credit: Reuters Photo
Islamabad: A suicide bomber on Tuesday detonated his explosives near a police vehicle outside a court in Pakistan's capital, killing at least 12 people and wounding 36 others, officials said.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, who visited the site of the blast, said the attacker wanted to enter the court complex, but on failure, he detonated his explosives near a police vehicle at the gate of the building in the G-11 area of the capital at 12.39 pm (local time).
No group or individual claimed responsibility for the attack, but such strikes are usually carried out by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Naqvi said that 12 people were killed and 27 others injured, including security personnel and a lawyer, in the blast near the Islamabad District Judicial Complex.
However, the spokesperson for the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Dr Mubahshir Daha, said the number of injured had risen to 36.
“Thirty-six injured people were brought to PIMS, out of which 18 have been discharged after treatment, while 14 have been moved to wards, three are in the emergency section, and one is in the operation theatre,” Daha was quoted as saying by Dawn newspaper.
Sharing details of the blast, Naqvi said that the attacker stood outside the court for around 12 minutes before he detonated the explosives.
"Our first priority is to identify the attacker...Whenever the attacker is identified, we will share with the media,” Naqvi said as he vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Naqvi said that the process of identifying the victims has been going on. He said that those sponsoring militants in Pakistan had increased their funding by threefold.
"We are linking today's blast with many factors. Things will be clear in the coming hours. There are several messages of it...," he said. "I don’t want to say anything at this point, as often the Indians do (start blaming soon after such incidents). We will come with full evidence and details.”
Naqvi said Pakistan is clear that Afghanistan should stop terrorism coming from their soil, “otherwise we will have to take action against them.”
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the suicide blast and expressed deep condolences to the bereaved families.
Shehbaz said terrorist attacks on the unarmed citizens of Pakistan are condemnable. He directed an investigation into the incident and expressed the resolve that all those responsible will be brought to justice.
While Prime Minister Shehbaz accused groups "active with Indian support" of being involved in the attack, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that the Afghan Taliban has sent a message through the bombing.
"The rulers of Kabul can stop terrorism in Pakistan, but bringing this war all the way to Islamabad is a message from Kabul, to which - praise be to God - Pakistan has the full strength to respond,” Asif said in a message on X to express his reaction to the attack in Islamabad.
“In this environment, it would be futile to hold out greater hope for successful negotiations with the rulers of Kabul,” he said.
The attack came days after the third round of talks between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban failed to reach any agreement to tackle the issue of terrorism emanating from Afghanistan.
Asif warned that Pakistan was in a state of war.
“Anyone who thinks that the Pakistan Army is fighting this war in the Afghan-Pakistan border region and the remote areas of Balochistan should take today's suicide attack at the Islamabad district courts as a wake-up call: this is a war for all of Pakistan, in which the Pakistan Army is giving daily sacrifices and making the people feel secure.”
Meanwhile, security around the Judicial Complex, adjoining courts, and other sensitive buildings in Islamabad has been further tightened.
Earlier, state-run Pakistan Television (PTV) reported that the rescue authorities retrieved 12 bodies from the site of the blast and transferred them to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital.
“The suicide bomber's head was found lying on the road,” it reported.
Pakistan has seen a surge in terrorist attacks, particularly in areas bordering Afghanistan, mostly targeting police, law enforcement personnel, and security forces.
On Monday, six people were injured after a suicide bomber detonated explosives at the main gate of a Cadet College in the South Waziristan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, bordering Afghanistan.
According to security officials, the attack at the Cadet College Wana was reportedly carried out by the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
The Pakistan government last year notified the TTP as "Fitna al-Khawarij", a reference to a group in earlier Islamic history which was involved in violence.