At least 12 people were killed and 27 injured when a suicide blast ripped through the area outside a district court building in Islamabad. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told reporters the explosion, which occurred at 12:39 pm (0739 GMT), is being treated as a suicide attack and is under active police investigation.
Naqvi said the attacker tried to gain entry to the court complex but, failing to do so, detonated near a police vehicle. “We are investigating this incident from different angles. It is not just another bombing. It happened right in Islamabad,” he said.
The court area is normally busy with people attending hearings. Witnesses told news agencies the blast seemed to occur near the gate of the complex. Lawyer Rustam Malik, who was arriving at the court, described hearing a loud bang as he parked: “It was complete chaos, lawyers and people were running inside the complex. I saw two dead bodies lying on the gate and several cars were on fire.”
The attack comes amid a wider security challenge in Pakistan, where the state faces multiple insurgencies and militant groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the local Islamic State affiliate ISKP, and Baloch separatist factions.
Separately, Pakistani security forces said they had foiled an attempt on Monday evening by militants to take cadets hostage at a military-run college in Wana, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa near the Afghan border. Authorities said a suicide car bomber and five other attackers targeted the facility. Naqvi said three people died in that incident and asserted the attacker involved in the Wana assault was Afghan, adding that Afghanistan was “directly involved” in that attack.
Investigations into the Islamabad blast and the Wana incident are ongoing as officials seek to establish responsibility and motive.