Pakistan: 12 killed, 27 injured in suicide blast outside Islamabad court

A suicide bomber detonated his explosives outside the Islamabad District Judicial Complex on Tuesday afternoon, killing at least 12 people and injuring 27 others, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said.

The blast occurred at 12.39 pm (local time) near Gate No. 1 of the court complex in the G-11 area, after the attacker failed to enter the premises and instead blew himself up beside a police vehicle.

Naqvi, who visited the site shortly after the explosion, said those killed included civilians, security personnel and a lawyer. Authorities have begun the process of identifying the victims, he added.

No outfit has claimed responsibility so far, although attacks of this nature are typically attributed to the TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan).

“Our first priority is to identify the attacker… We will share the details once confirmed,” Naqvi said, adding that militant groups operating in Pakistan had recently seen their funding “increase threefold”.

Hinting at external links, the minister said Pakistan expected the ruling Taliban in Afghanistan to curb cross-border terrorism.

“If they do not stop terrorists coming from their soil, we will have to take action,” he said.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif described the incident as a clear “suicide attack” and warned that the bombing appeared to be a message from Kabul.

“Bringing this war all the way to Islamabad is a message… Pakistan has the full strength to respond,” he said, adding that hopes of meaningful negotiations with the Afghan Taliban were “futile”.

President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the attack and offered condolences to the families of those killed. Rescue teams recovered 12 bodies from the site and moved the injured to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), where several are undergoing treatment.

The blast comes amid a renewed surge in militant violence across Pakistan, particularly in regions bordering Afghanistan. On Monday, six people were injured when a suicide bomber struck the gate of Cadet College Wana in South Waziristan — an attack officials attributed to the banned TTP.

The latest strike follows the collapse of a third round of talks between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban aimed at addressing cross-border terrorism, underscoring Islamabad's growing concerns over security spillover from Afghanistan.

With inputs from PTI