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At least 12 people were killed and several others were injured after a blast took place outside a local court in Pakistan’s Islamabad on Tuesday afternoon. The cause of the blast was not immediately known.
Several vehicles parked outside the court were also damaged in the explosion. Those injured were mostly people who had arrived at the court for hearings. The court premises outside are usually bustling with visitors.
Local media reports suggested that a gas cylinder may have exploded inside the vehicle, but police have refused to comment on it, reported news agency AP.
Witnesses to the blast recalled hearing a loud bang, and the chaos that followed thereafter. A lawyer named Rustam Malik reportedly told news agency AFP that he heard the explosion as he was parking his car.
“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,” said Malik.
The blast in Islamabad comes a day after Pakistani forces reportedly foiled an attempt by militants to take cadets in an army-run college hostage in Wana city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, near the Afghan border.
According to AP, a suicide car bomber and five other Pakistani Taliban militants targeted the facility in an overnight assault. Wana has long been considered a hub for the Pakistani Taliban, al-Qaida, and other extremist groups.
However, the attempt to take cadets hostage was foiled as two militants were killed by troops, and the three who managed to enter the compound were cornered in one of the blocks. “All cadets, instructors and staff remained safe,” Alamgir Mahsud, the local police chief was quoted.
While there were no deaths, the suicide bombing left around 16 civilians and some troops were injured, and houses near the college were badly damaged.
The blast in Islamabad comes a day after an explosion involving a parked car was reported near Red Fort in New Delhi. At least 13 people were killed in the incident, and a case under stringent UAPA and Explosives Act has been registered.
The suspect who was allegedly behind the wheels of the Hyundai i20 that exploded after slowing down near a red light in Delhi was identified as Umar Un Nabi, a doctor from Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama.
Besides, two people who had previously been owners of the car were detained for questioning hours after the blast.

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