Suicide blast kills 12, injures dozens in Islamabad
Iran Press TV
Tuesday, 11 November 2025 2:53 PM
A powerful suicide blast struck outside a courthouse in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, on Tuesday, killing at least 12 people and injuring 36 others, officials said.
According to police, the attacker detonated an explosive-laden vehicle near a police car outside the city's district and sessions court building.
The attacker attempted to "enter the court premises but, failing to do so, targeted a police vehicle," Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told reporters.
Naqvi refrained from naming any militant organization and said authorities were "looking into all aspects" of the incident.
Video from the scene showed a charred vehicle at the blast site, and witnesses described a loud bang and bodies strewn on the pavement near the court complex.
Local outlets reported that most victims were passersby or people attending court hearings.
The courthouse explosion came on the same day authorities said they had foiled a separate militant operation in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, near the Afghan border.
Pakistani forces said two attackers were killed after they rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the main gate of Cadet College Wana, causing the gate to collapse and damaging an adjacent structure.
Three additional militants reportedly entered the compound and were trapped in an administrative building, prompting a clearance operation by the army. Intermittent gunfire continued into late Tuesday, local police chief Alamgir Mahsud said.
"Due to the presence of Afghan militants inside the college, the security forces are conducting the operation with utmost care to ensure the safety of the cadets," Pakistani media quoted security sources as saying, "adding that the operation will continue until the last terrorist is eliminated."
In a statement on X, Pakistan's Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif blamed India for the violence.
"Both attacks are the worst examples of Indian state terrorism in the region ... It is time for the world to condemn such nefarious conspiracies of India," he said. "We will continue the war against them until the complete elimination of the scourge of terrorism," Sharif added.
Pakistan's Defense Minister, Khawaja Asif, called Tuesday's attacks a "wake-up call" to the terror threats the country has been facing on multiple fronts.
"We are in a state of war. Anyone who thinks that the Pakistan army is fighting this war in the Afghan-Pakistan border region and the remote areas of Balochistan, today's suicide attacks [are] a wake-up call," he said.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have sharply deteriorated in recent months, amid escalating border tensions and mutual accusations of harboring militants.
Kabul accused Islamabad of carrying out drone strikes on October 9 that killed several people in the Afghan capital, vowing retaliation in response.
The following days saw heavy cross-border clashes that left dozens of soldiers, civilians, and militants dead on both sides before Qatar brokered a ceasefire on October 19.
Since then, two rounds of talks have been held in Turkey, the most recent on Thursday, but both ended without progress after Kabul reportedly refused to provide written assurances that the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other militant groups would not use Afghan territory to launch attacks against Pakistan.
Pakistan has long faced deadly attacks from militant outfits, including the resurgent TTP.
Pakistan's Defense Minister said the latest suicide bombings have further deepened doubts about whether peace negotiations with the Taliban government can succeed.
"In this environment, it would be futile to hold out greater hope for successful negotiations with the rulers of Kabul," he said.
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