Islamabad, 11 November 2025 (dpa/MIA) – At least 12 people were killed and 27 others injured when a suicide bomber struck a court building in the north of Pakistan’s capital on Tuesday.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said the bomber had waited for about 15 minutes in front of the entry gate to the capital’s district court. Since it was not possible from him to enter the premises due to security checks, he detonated the device when a police car drove by, he said.  

“We will identify the suicide bomber in next few hours,” the minister told reporters.

The blast triggered panic as security forces sealed off the area, causing traffic to back up on key roads. Ambulances and police rushed to the site.

Eyewitness Rustam Malik told dpa: "We were inside the court when we heard a deafening explosion. Everyone panicked and people started running in all directions. It was a terrifying scene, and chaos erupted immediately after the blast."

Another witness, Khalid Khan, said that when the blast took place there were around 5,000 people inside the complex. After the explosion there was a stampede as everyone tried to get out.

“There were body parts scattered both inside and outside the premises,” he said.

Waziristan attack

The Islamabad blast took place amid a surge in terrorist attacks in the country.

Earlier in the day, the military reported an attack in South Waziristan, a district in north-western Pakistan bordering Afghanistan.

Militants stormed a military-style boarding school in Wana, using a blast set off by a suicide bomber in a vehicle to gain entry to the premises.

Interior Minister Naqvi said that “three [people] have been martyred” during the operation against gunmen hiding inside the building.

“The bomber has been identified an Afghan national. The attackers had been communicating with [people] in Afghanistan,” he said. “We are very clear that Afghanistan is directly involved in the attack.”

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned both the attacks and said terrorists operating at India’s behest had attacked “innocent children” in Wana.

“No condemnation is enough for these attacks carried out from Afghan soil with India’s backing,” Sharif said.

“We are in a state of war,” Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said in a statement posted on X.

The Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan, who were former allies, have turned against each other since the Islamist group took over Afghanistan in 2021.

Islamabad accuses Kabul of sheltering the Pakistani Taliban. Afghanistan denies the charge.

Photo: dpa