12 dead as suicide blast rocks Islamabad courthouse

International

TWELVE people were killed and 27 others injured Tuesday when a suicide bomber targeted Islamabad’s district courthouse, leaving terrified lawyers and bystanders scrambling for safety.

The explosion occurred at 12:39 local time (07:39 GMT), leaving a burnt-out car and thick plumes of smoke at the scene.

Mohsin Naqvi, Pakistan’s interior minister, said in a BBC report that the attacker had attempted to enter the courthouse but detonated the bomb near a police car after waiting for up to 15 minutes. He added that authorities would prioritize identifying the bomber and bringing those responsible to justice.

Eyewitnesses described chaos at the scene. Rustam Malik, a lawyer who was parking outside the court, told AFP, “It was complete chaos.” He said people were running inside the complex, two bodies lay at the gate, and several cars had caught fire.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif alleged that extremist groups “actively backed by India” were behind the attack. He described terrorist attacks on Pakistani citizens by India-backed proxies as condemnable.

The Indian government rejected the claims, calling them “baseless and unfounded.”

Jumaat Ul Ahrar, a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban (TTP), claimed responsibility for the blast, according to local media. However, two journalists told the BBC that the central TTP leadership denied any connection to the attack.

President Asif Ali Zardari also condemned the bombing, emphasizing the seriousness of the incident.

Suicide attacks have been rare in Islamabad in recent years. The last such attack in the capital occurred three years ago, when a police officer was killed and several others injured. While other parts of Pakistan have seen suicide attacks in the intervening years, the capital has remained largely unaffected.

The bombing came a day after a car explosion in India’s capital, Delhi, killed eight people. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned that all responsible parties would be brought to justice, while the government has yet to officially classify the blast as a terror attack.(MyTVCebu)