Pakistan says ‘India proxies’ behind Islamabad bombing: What we know so far

Islamabad, Pakistan – Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has blamed India for the “suicide attack” that struck extracurricular the territory and sessions tribunal gathering successful Islamabad on Tuesday afternoon.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said astatine slightest 12 radical were killed and infirmary authorities confirmed much than 30 wounded, including astatine slightest 5 successful captious condition.

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The blast occurred arsenic Islamabad hosted respective planetary conferences and portion sports events were besides nether mode nearby. The Sri Lankan cricket team, which was attacked successful March 2009 by gunmen successful Pakistan, was playing a one-day planetary lucifer successful Rawalpindi, astir 10km (6 miles) from the court.

The termination onslaught marked a melodramatic escalation of unit astatine a clip erstwhile the subject was focused connected rescuing hundreds of cadets held by fighters successful a abstracted incidental astatine Cadet College successful South Waziristan, successful Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, adjacent the Afghan border.

The battle connected the assemblage successful Wana, the territory capital, occurred a time earlier erstwhile an explosives-laden car rammed the field entrance. Security forces accidental astatine slightest 300 cadets person been rescued truthful acold and that operations to escaped the remainder are ongoing.

On Tuesday, different weaponry successful Dera Ismail Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, injured astatine slightest 14 information personnel.

Sharif blamed India for some the Islamabad and Wana incidents without offering evidence. “Both attacks are the worst examples of Indian authorities coercion successful the region. It is clip for the satellite to condemn specified nefarious conspiracies of India,” helium said.

A time earlier, a car detonation successful New Delhi killed astatine slightest 13 people. India’s Home Minister Amit Shah said connected X that India would “hunt down each and each culprit down this incident”.

Here is what we cognize truthful acold astir the Islamabad blast.

Where did the blast happen?

The termination bomber struck aft 12:30pm (07:30 GMT) astatine the entranceway of the District Judicial Complex connected Srinagar Highway, 1 of Islamabad’s main arteries.

Opened 3 years ago, the analyzable handles thousands of litigants and draws ample numbers of lawyers daily. The analyzable has respective gates, with a broadside entranceway utilized chiefly by judges and a main gross for litigants.

Key governmental and civic institutions – the Parliament, Supreme Court, and offices of the president and premier curate – are astir 15km (9 miles) away.

Has anyone claimed responsibility?

The Jamaa-ul-Ahrar, a breakaway faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) equipped group, claimed work for the attack.

The TTP, an ideological state of the Afghan Taliban, itself denied immoderate relation successful the Islamabad attack.

Pakistan has suffered a bid of attacks from the TTP successful caller years that person led to the deaths of hundreds of information officials and civilians. Pakistan has repeatedly accused the Afghan Taliban of sheltering the TTP, a complaint Kabul denies. The TTP are astatine the centre of caller tensions betwixt Pakistan and Afghanistan, including a bid of deadly cross-border clashes.

Pakistan’s capital, however, has mostly stayed peaceful successful caller years. The past large onslaught successful Islamabad was successful December 2022, erstwhile a car rammed a constabulary station and a constabulary serviceman died. The TTP had claimed work for that attack.

What did witnesses see?

As Islamabad’s main territory court, the judicial analyzable sees thousands of litigants visiting the tribunal premises for their assorted cases. Thousands of lawyers besides travel to the analyzable for their regular duties.

Raja Aleem Abbasi, a subordinate of the Islamabad Bar Council, was taking a interruption successful the main courtyard erstwhile the blast shook the compound.

“It was a deafening blast, and implicit chaos and panic acceptable in. As we regained composure, I saw the caput of the termination bomber, which had flown from outside, rolling conscionable successful beforehand of me, simply a fewer feet away,” a shaken Abbasi told Al Jazeera.

Abbasi, 60, said hundreds tried to flee, but the main entranceway was blocked. “Soon, the entranceway utilized for the judges was unfastened for the public, allowing america to escape,” helium added.

He estimated astir 2,000 radical were connected the premises erstwhile the instrumentality detonated.

Mushahid Dawar, different lawyer, said helium had near the compound connected his motorcycle minutes earlier the blast but returned erstwhile helium heard it.

“I had near for the bureau from the tribunal erstwhile I heard the blast, and instinctively I turned back. However, arsenic I saw truthful galore bodies strewn connected the road, I conscionable could not carnivore the show and decided to leave,” Dawar told Al Jazeera.

What is the wider context?

The attacks coincide with a fraught play successful Pakistan-Afghanistan ties. The 2 neighbours were locked successful a week of clashes past period earlier Qatar and Türkiye mediated a ceasefire successful Doha connected October 19.

(Al Jazeera)

Follow-up talks successful Istanbul have, however, failed to resoluteness differences, and negotiations collapsed again implicit the play pursuing the 3rd circular of talks.

Pakistan agelong enjoyed adjacent ties with the Afghan Taliban and galore Pakistanis welcomed the militants’ instrumentality to powerfulness successful August 2021.

But relations person soured, mostly implicit Pakistan’s accusations that Kabul has provided sanctuary to the TTP, an equipped radical that emerged successful 2007 and has waged a sustained run against Islamabad.

Besides the TTP, Pakistan besides accuses Afghanistan of sheltering the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and the ISIL affiliate successful Khorasan Province (ISKP). The Taliban authorities denies work for Pakistan’s interior information concerns.

Regional powers including China, Iran and Russia person urged the Taliban to enactment against the TTP. That connection was reiterated astatine the Moscow Format consultations successful aboriginal October, attended by Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban’s overseas minister.

Shortly aft the blast, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif wrote connected X that the state was “in a authorities of war”.

“Anyone who thinks that the Pakistan Army is warring this warfare successful the Afghan-Pakistan borderline portion and the distant areas of Balochistan should instrumentality today’s termination onslaught astatine the Islamabad territory courts arsenic a wake-up call: this is simply a warfare for each of Pakistan, successful which the Pakistan Army is giving regular sacrifices and making the radical consciousness secure,” helium wrote.

Why is India being blamed?

The twelvemonth 2025 has seen shifting determination alignments. Relations betwixt Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban, erstwhile close, present basal astatine a breaking point, contempt the existent twelvemonth seeing respective attempts to spot up the relationship.

Pakistan appointed an ambassador to Kabul and engaged successful aggregate diplomatic dialogues, but relations person deteriorated.

India, which agelong treated the Taliban arsenic a Pakistani proxy and shunned contact, has, connected the different hand, strengthened its diplomatic and strategical ties successful caller years, arsenic witnessed by a sojourn by Afghanistan’s overseas curate to India past year.

Islamabad has historically accused New Delhi of stoking unrest successful Balochistan and has much precocious alleged Indian enactment for the TTP, charges India rejects.

What bash experts say?

Analysts pass that if tensions betwixt Pakistan and Afghanistan stay unresolved, instability is apt to spill crossed borders and provoke further attacks wrong Pakistan’s cities.

Ihsanullah Tipu Mehsud, a information expert successful Islamabad, said the TTP has the capableness to onslaught large cities but has mostly concentrated its operations successful Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“The Pakistani Taliban judge that if they proceed attacking information unit successful Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, they tin weaken the power of medication and that volition let them accidental to seizure parts of the province, wherever they tin marque their bases,” Mehsud told Al Jazeera.

Referring to the caller Pakistan-Afghanistan clashes and the failed talks, Mehsud warned of a imaginable surge of unit successful large cities. “If determination is simply a warfare to instrumentality spot against Afghanistan, Pakistan indispensable beryllium acceptable for the blowback, and to endure losses,” helium said. “There tin beryllium attacks against its cardinal installations and symbols.”