A suicide bomber targets an Islamabad court, killing 12 people and wounding 27, minister says

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A suicide bomber struck outside the gates of a district court in Islamabad on Tuesday, detonating his explosives next to a police car and killing 12 people, Pakistan's interior minister said, the latest in an uptick of violence across the country.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the midday blast, which also wounded at least 27 people, but authorities have struggled over the past months with a resurgent Pakistani Taliban.

Witnesses described scenes of mayhem in the immediate aftermath. The explosion, which was heard for miles away, came at a busy time of day when the area outside the court is typically crowded with hundreds of visitors attending court hearings.

The attacker tried to "enter the court premises but, failing to do so, targeted a police vehicle,” Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told journalists. Earlier reports by Pakistani state-run media and two security officials said a car bomb had caused the explosion.

Naqvi alleged that the attack was “carried out by Indian-backed elements and Afghan Taliban proxies" linked to the Pakistani Taliban. He

Still, he said authorities are “looking into all aspects” of the explosion.

The casualties were mostly passersby or those who had arrived for court appointments, media reports said. Islamabad police did not immediately issue statements about the attack but said they were still investigating.

More than a dozen badly wounded people were screaming for help as ambulances rushed to the scene. “People started running in all directions,” said Mohammad Afzal, who said he was at the court when he heard the blast.

Overnight attack at an army-run college

In an earlier development, Pakistani security forces said they foiled an attempt by militants to take cadets hostage at an army-run college overnight, when a suicide car bomber and five other attackers targeted the facility in a northwestern province.

The authorities blamed the Pakistani Taliban, which is separate from but allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban, but the group denied involvement in that attack on Monday evening.

The attack started when a bomber tried to storm the cadet college in Wana, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the Afghan border. The area had until recent years served as a base for the Pakistani Taliban, al-Qaida and other foreign militants.

According to Alamgir Mahsud, the local police chief, two of the militants were quickly killed by troops while three militants managed to enter the compound before being cornered in an administrative block. The army’s commandoes were among the forces conducting a clearance operation and an intermittent exchange of fire went on into Tuesday, Mahsud said.

The administrative block is away from the building housing hundreds of cadets and other staff.

Prime minister promises accountability

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif denounced both the attack in Islamabad and in Wana, and called in a statement issued in Islamabad for a full investigation.

He said those responsible must be brought to justice swiftly.

“We will ensure the perpetrators are apprehended and held accountable,” he said.

Sharif described attacks on unarmed civilians as “reprehensible” and added, “We will not allow the blood of innocent Pakistanis to go to waste.”

The Pakistani Taliban, or TTP, have become emboldened since the Taliban seized power in Kabul in 2021, and many of the group's leaders and fighters are believed to have taken refuge in Afghanistan.

Pakistan has seen a surge in militant attacks in recent years. The deadliest assault on a school occurred in 2014 when Taliban gunmen killed 154 people, mostly children, at an army-run school in Peshawar. According to the military, the assailants wanted to repeat Monday what happened during the 2014 attack in Peshawar.

Peace talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan stall

Tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have risen in recent months.

Kabul has blamed Islamabad for drone strikes on Oct. 9 that killed several people in the Afghan capital and vowed retaliation. The ensuing cross-border fighting killed dozens of soldiers, civilians and militants before Qatar brokered a ceasefire on Oct. 19, which remains in place.

Since then, two rounds of peace talks have been held in Istanbul — the latest on Thursday — but ended without agreement after Kabul refused to provide a written assurance that the TTP and other militant groups would not use Afghan territory against Pakistan.