12 Killed, 27 Injured In Powerful Car Bomb Blast At Islamabad Court Complex

A powerful explosion ripped through a judicial complex in Pakistan's Islamabad today, killing 12 and injuring 27. The local media reported it was a suicide attack.

Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told reporters the suicide bombing attack happened at 12.39 pm local time. The bomber tried to enter the court building on foot, but detonated the device outside, close to a police vehicle, after waiting there for 10 to 15 minutes, Naqvi told reporters at the site.

Visuals from the site showed some people in black coats and white shirts, likely lawyers, sitting on the road and looking shell shocked. Blood is visible on their shirts.

It was a car bomb, Pakistani officials told reporters. The blast, heard kilometres away, also damaged several vehicles outside the court. The attack happened at a time when the area was typically crowded with hundreds of visitors attending hearings.

No group immediately claimed responsibility. Pakistan has struggled with militant attacks across the country and a resurgent Pakistani Taliban.

On Tuesday, Pakistani security forces said they foiled an attempt by militants to take cadets hostage at an army-run college overnight, when a suicide car bomber and five other Pakistani Taliban targeted the facility in a northwestern province, news agency AP reported.

Tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have risen in recent months. Kabul blamed Islamabad for drone strikes on October 9 that killed several people in the Afghan capital and vowed retaliation. The ensuing cross-border fighting killed dozens of soldiers, civilians and militants before Qatar brokered a ceasefire on October 19, which remains in place.