A suicide bombing outside district court buildings in the Pakistani capital Islamabad killed at least 12 people and wounded 27 on Tuesday, November 11th. People fled in panic in an area housing several government offices.
According to eyewitness lawyer Rustam Malik,
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.
“We are trying to identify who he (the attacker) is and where he came from,” Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif pinning the blame on “terrorist proxies backed by Pakistan’s longtime foe India” —without providing any evidence. Sharif also accused the Pakistani Taliban militant group and separatists from the country’s Balochistan region, both of whom have carried out attacks, mostly targeting the security forces.
Islamabad has largely been spared major militant violence in recent years, with the last suicide attack occurring in December 2022.
“There was an attack in Wana as well last night,” Naqvi said. “Three people died in that attack. The attacker involved in that attack is an Afghan. Afghanistan is directly involved in that attack.”
