Suicide bomber struck outdoors an Islamabad court docket, killing 12, minister says

[ad_1] ISLAMABAD (AP) — A suicide bomber struck outdoors the gates of a district court docket in Islamabad on Tuesday, detonating his explosives subsequent to a police automobile and killing 12 folks, Pakistan’s inside minister mentioned, the newest in an uptick in violence across the country .

No group instantly claimed duty for the noon blast, which additionally wounded a minimum of 27 folks, however authorities have struggled over the previous months with a resurgent Pakistani Taliban , border tensions and a fragile ceasefire with neighboring Afghanistan.

A Pakistani Taliban spokesman later denied the militant group was concerned within the assault.

Witnesses described scenes of mayhem within the rapid aftermath of the explosion, which was heard for miles away and got here at a busy time of day when the world outdoors the court docket is often crowded with tons of of tourists attending court docket hearings.

The attacker tried to “enter the court docket premises however, failing to take action, focused a police automobile,” Inside Minister Mohsin Naqvi instructed journalists. Earlier reviews by Pakistani state-run media and two safety officers mentioned a automobile bomb had precipitated the explosion.

Naqvi alleged that the assault was “carried out by Indian-backed parts and Afghan Taliban proxies” linked to the Pakistani Taliban. Nonetheless, he mentioned authorities are “trying into all facets” of the explosion.

Outdoors the court docket Police rapidly cordoned off the world across the court docket as a cloud of smoke rose into the sky following the blast. The casualties have been largely passersby or those that had arrived for court docket appointments, in keeping with Islamabad police.

Greater than a dozen badly wounded folks have been screaming for assist as ambulances rushed to the scene.

“Individuals began working in all instructions,” Mohammad Afzal, who was on the court docket on the time, instructed The Related Press.

Naqvi mentioned the invention close by of a severed head, which the police mentioned belonged to the attacker, confirmed the blast was a suicide assault. The attacker was additionally later noticed in CCTV footage from the location, he mentioned.

In a single day assault at an army-run school In the meantime, Pakistani safety forces mentioned they foiled an try by militants to take cadets hostage at an army-run college in a single day, when a suicide automobile bomber and 5 different attackers focused the ability in a northwestern province on Monday evening.

The authorities blamed the Pakistani Taliban, which is a separate militant group however allied with the Afghan Taliban. The Pakistani Taliban denied involvement in Monday’s assault. On Tuesday, Mohammad Khurasani, a spokesman for the group, additionally denied its involvement within the assault in Islamabad.

The assault on the army-run school began on Monday night, when a bomber tried to storm the varsity in Wana, a metropolis in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province close to the Afghan border. The realm had till latest years served as a base for the Pakistani Taliban, al-Qaida and different international militants.

In accordance with Alamgir Mahsud, the native police chief, two of the militants have been rapidly killed by troops whereas three others managed to enter the compound earlier than being cornered in an administrative block. The military’s commandoes have been among the many forces conducting a clearance operation and an intermittent trade of fireside that went on for hours, Mahsud added.

He mentioned the clearance operation was nonetheless underway on Tuesday, some 20 hours after the assault. The executive block is away from the constructing housing tons of of cadets and different employees, who have been rapidly evacuated to safer locations by Pakistani commandoes.

There have been no rapid reviews of anybody from the scholars or the employees being harm.

Casualties have been extremely probably among the many troops, however the Pakistani military has not offered any info up to now.

Prime minister guarantees accountability Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif denounced each the assault in Islamabad and in Wana, and known as for a full investigation, in keeping with an announcement issued in Islamabad.

He mentioned these accountable should be dropped at justice swiftly.

“We'll make sure the perpetrators are apprehended and held accountable,” he mentioned.

Sharif described assaults on unarmed civilians as “reprehensible” and added: “We is not going to permit the blood of harmless Pakistanis to go to waste.”

Pakistan’s Protection Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif mentioned on X that the nation is in a state of battle and laid the blame with the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan, which Islamabad accuses of sheltering the Pakistani Taliban.

Afghanistan “can act to cease terrorism in Pakistan, however bringing this battle to Islamabad is a message from Kabul,” Asif mentioned and warned that Pakistan “has the power to reply totally.”

Pakistan has outlawed the Pakistani Taliban, often known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP. The group can be designated a terrorist group by each the US and the United Nations. The Afghan Taliban takeover in Kabul in 2021 emboldened the TTP, and lots of the group’s leaders and fighters are believed to have taken refuge in Afghanistan. Kabul denies it’s defending the TTP.

Pakistan has seen a surge in militant assaults lately. The deadliest assault on a school occurred in 2014 , when a breakaway TTP faction killed 154 folks, largely kids, at an army-run faculty in Peshawar.

The army claimed the attackers in Wana needed to repeat what had occurred within the 2014 assault in Peshawar.

Afghanistan-Pakistan peace talks stall Tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have risen in latest months. Kabul has blamed Islamabad for drone strikes on Oct. 9 that killed a number of folks within the Afghan capital and vowed retaliation.

The following cross-border preventing killed dozens of troopers, civilians and militants earlier than Qatar brokered a ceasefire on Oct. 19, which stays in place.

Since then, two rounds of peace talks have been held in Istanbul — the newest on Thursday — however ended without agreement after Kabul refused to offer a written assurance that the TTP and different militant teams wouldn't use Afghan territory towards Pakistan.

An earlier, temporary ceasefire between Pakistan and the TTP, brokered by Kabul in 2022, collapsed later after the group accused Islamabad of violating it.

___

Mahsud reported from Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan. Related Press author Riaz Khan contributed to this story from Peshawar, Pakistan.

window.fbAsyncInit = function() { FB.init({ appId : '870613919693099', xfbml : true, version : 'v2.9' }); };

(function(d, s, id){ var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;} js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); [ad_2] Source link