A suicide bomber targets an Islamabad court, killing 12 people and
wounding 27, minister says
[November 11, 2025]
By MUNIR AHMED and ISHTIAQ MAHSUD
ISLAMABAD (AP) — A suicide bomber struck outside the gates of a district
court in Islamabad on Tuesday, detonating his explosives next to a
police car and killing 12 people, Pakistan's interior minister said, the
latest in an uptick of violence across the country.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the midday blast, which
also wounded at least 27 people, but authorities have struggled over the
past months with a resurgent Pakistani Taliban.
Witnesses described scenes of mayhem in the immediate aftermath. The
explosion, which was heard for miles away, came at a busy time of day
when the area outside the court is typically crowded with hundreds of
visitors attending court hearings.
The attacker tried to "enter the court premises but, failing to do so,
targeted a police vehicle,” Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told
journalists. Earlier reports by Pakistani state-run media and two
security officials said a car bomb had caused the explosion.
Naqvi alleged that the attack was “carried out by Indian-backed elements
and Afghan Taliban proxies" linked to the Pakistani Taliban. Still, he
said authorities are “looking into all aspects” of the explosion.
The casualties were mostly passersby or those who had arrived for court
appointments, media reports said. Islamabad police did not immediately
issue statements about the attack but said they were still
investigating.
More than a dozen badly wounded people were screaming for help as
ambulances rushed to the scene. “People started running in all
directions,” said Mohammad Afzal, who said he was at the court when he
heard the blast.
Overnight attack at an army-run college
In an earlier development, 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 attackers targeted
the facility in a northwestern province.
The authorities blamed the Pakistani Taliban, which is separate from but
allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban, but the group denied involvement in
that attack on Monday evening.
The attack started when a bomber tried to storm the cadet college in
Wana, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the Afghan border. The
area had until recent years served as a base for the Pakistani Taliban,
al-Qaida and other foreign militants.
According to Alamgir Mahsud, the local police chief, two of the
militants were quickly killed by troops while three militants managed to
enter the compound before being cornered in an administrative block. The
army’s commandoes were among the forces conducting a clearance operation
and an intermittent exchange of fire went on into Tuesday, Mahsud said.
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Pakistani security officials stand guard after a powerful car bomb
exploded outside a district court in Islamabad, Pakistan, Tuesday,
Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohammad Yousuf)
The administrative block is away from the building housing hundreds
of cadets and other staff.
Prime minister promises accountability
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif denounced both the attack in
Islamabad and in Wana, and called for a full investigation,
according to a statement issued in Islamabad.
He said those responsible must be brought to justice swiftly.
“We will ensure the perpetrators are apprehended and held
accountable,” he said.
Sharif described attacks on unarmed civilians as “reprehensible” and
added: “We will not allow the blood of innocent Pakistanis to go to
waste.”
The Pakistani Taliban, or TTP, have become emboldened since the
Taliban seized power in Kabul in 2021, and many of the group's
leaders and fighters are believed to have taken refuge in
Afghanistan.
Pakistan has seen a surge in militant attacks in recent years. The
deadliest assault on a school occurred in 2014, when Taliban gunmen
killed 154 people, mostly children, at an army-run school in
Peshawar. According to the military, the assailants wanted to repeat
Monday what happened during the 2014 attack in Peshawar.
Afghanistan-Pakistan peace talks stall
Tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have risen in recent
months. Kabul has blamed Islamabad for drone strikes on Oct. 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 Oct.
19, which remains in place.
Since then, two rounds of peace talks have been held in Istanbul —
the latest on Thursday — but ended without agreement after Kabul
refused to provide a written assurance that the TTP and other
militant groups would not use Afghan territory against Pakistan.
An earlier, brief ceasefire between Pakistan and the TTP, brokered
by Kabul in 2022, collapsed later after the group accused Islamabad
of violating it.
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Mahsud reported from Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan. Associated Press
writer Riaz Khan contributed to this story from Peshawar, Pakistan.
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