A car bomb outside a court in Pakistan’s Islamabad has led to the death of 12 individuals on Tuesday, the Associated Press quoted Pakistan’s interior minister Mohsin Naqvi as saying.
The attacker tried to “enter the court premises but, failing to do so, targeted a police vehicle,” Naqvi said, as per AP.
Naqvi did not blame any particular organisation of being behind the attack, but said that authorities are “looking into all aspects” of the attack. He said that a probe has revealed that the blast was caused by a suicide bomber.
Earlier it was reported that eight people were injured in the blast.
“We are probing what kind of blast it was. It is not clear yet. We will be able to provide more details after we get a report from our forensic team,” a police spokesperson told Reuters.
The blast occurred near the entrance of Islamabad district court, which is typically remains crowded during working hours.
As per Pak state media, the blast, which was heard miles away, also caused damage to a number of vehicles that were parked outside the court.
On Tuesday, Pak forces foiled an attempt by militants to take cadets of an army-run college hostage. The facility, which is situated in Wana, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the Afghan border, was targetted by a suicide car bomber as well as five individuals from the Pakistani Taliban, as per an AP report.
Two of these militants were killed by the troops while three of them, who managed to enter the compound, were cornered in an administrative block.
This incident comes amid the recent border tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Kabul has blamed Islamabad for a drone strike on 9 October, which led to several deaths. Afghan leaders vowed retaliation after the attack.
Cross-border fighting ensued soon, killing a number of soldiers and civilians on both sides of the border. A ceasefire agreement was reached on 19 October, mediated by Qatar, and is still in place.
The Islamabad incident comes in the wake of a car explosion in Delhi which has now left around 13 people dead so far. The incident occurred near Gate no. 1 of the Red Fort Metro Station. Initial probes hinted that this might also have been a suicide attack.
Investigation into the incident has been handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is also probing the Pulwama terror attack that happened in April this year.
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