ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Thursday said that the suicide bomber involved in Tuesday’s attack at Islamabad’s judicial complex was “related to Afghanistan”. The attack killed 12 people and injured 36 others.
Meanwhile, Rawalpindi’s Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) arrested seven persons allegedly involved in facilitating the suicide bombing, as Pakistani authorities intensified efforts to prevent cross-border terrorism.
Speaking on the Senate floor, Minister Naqvi termed the Afghan links to Tuesday’s suicide blast a “very serious” concern. He noted that Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and Defence Minister Khawaja Asif have also been informed about the matter.
Referring to the terrorist attack on Cadet College Wana in South Waziristan on November 10, the interior minister said the suicide bomber involved in that incident was also from Afghanistan.
“It is becoming very difficult for us; the way people from Afghanistan are coming here and attacking us,” the minister said, adding that with Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar also taking up the issue, they will do “whatever is possible” to tackle it.
Minister Naqvi said that the Pakistani government was ensuring that illegal Afghans residing in the country were driven out.
Later today, Naqvi said on X that he had a “deeply reassuring telephonic call” with Bahrain’s Interior Minister General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, who “unequivocally condemned the terrorist attack in Islamabad and conveyed heartfelt condolences on the loss of innocent lives”.
The Bahrain minister also reaffirmed his country’s “unwavering support and solidarity with Pakistan at all times”, Minister Naqvi added.
Had a deeply reassuring telephonic call with the Interior Minister of Bahrain, who unequivocally condemned the terrorist attack in Islamabad and conveyed heartfelt condolences on the loss of innocent lives. He reaffirmed Bahrain’s unwavering support and solidarity with Pakistan…
— Mohsin Naqvi (@MohsinnaqviC42) November 13, 2025
Pakistan police arrest facilitators of suicide bomber
On Thursday, Rawalpindi’s CTD arrested seven suspects who allegedly facilitated the suicide bomb blast in Islamabad.
According to a police source, the “suspected facilitators have been arrested from Rawalpindi’s Fauji Colony (Pirwadhai area) and Dhoke Kashmirian. Moreover, a raid was also conducted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.”
Yesterday, investigators detained a bike rider from an online ride-hailing platform who had dropped off the bomber outside the judicial complex in Islamabad.
A police official had said the bomber paid the fare to the bike rider against the ride, adding that he was traced and identified through the CCTV footage.
The incident had occurred as international events were being hosted in Pakistan’s capital, including the Inter-Parliamentary Speakers’ Conference and the 6th Margalla Dialogue, while a cricket match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka was also being held in Rawalpindi.
The blast had occurred the same day a bomb attack targeted a security forces’ convoy in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Dera Ismail Khan district, injuring at least 14 personnel.
A day before that, the Cadet College in South Waziristan’s Wana had come under attack. While all students and teachers were reported to have been safely rescued and all terrorists holed up inside the building were killed.
In the wake of the Islamabad and Wana attacks, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday accused Afghanistan and India of involvement in recent terrorism, and vowed a “befitting response” to the nation’s enemies.
Hours after the blast, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had termed the incident a “wake-up call” and said Pakistan was “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 attack at the Islamabad district courts is a wake-up call,” he had said, voicing lack of hope for successful counter-terrorism negotiations with Kabul.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi had said, “We are linking this blast today with a lot of things and, in the coming hours or days, we will be very clear about it.”
“We are not taking this blast as just another one,” he added, noting that its timing and the federal capital being targeted “has a lot of messages”.
