ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said that militants operating from Afghan soil were responsible for the suicide bombing outside Islamabad’s Judicial Complex, which killed 12 people and injured 27 others on Tuesday.
Naqvi said the attacker detonated his explosive vest near a police vehicle, failing to enter the heavily guarded court premises in the capital’s G-11 neighborhood.
The minister warned that continued tolerance of such groups inside Afghanistan would compel Pakistan to take “its own measures” to ensure national security, adding that the assault was part of a pattern of cross-border militancy aimed at destabilising Pakistan’s cities.
Mohsin Naqvi, who visited the blast site and the wounded at PIMS Hospital, said the assault bore the clear hallmarks of militant groups operating from Afghanistan. “Those who are trained, directed, and sheltered across the border are targeting Pakistan,” he said. “If these elements are not restrained, Pakistan will have no choice but to take its own measures.”
Naqvi called the bombing part of a coordinated wave of cross-border terrorism, pointing to Monday’s attack on Wana Cadet College in South Waziristan, which security officials also traced to Afghan-based operatives. “There is communication, there is training, and there is facilitation happening inside Afghanistan,” he said.
Mohsin Naqvi said the suicide bomber struck at 12:39 p.m. According to Naqvi, the attacker had intended to enter the court complex but, failing to do so, detonated his explosives near a police vehicle.
“The roles of those involved in the court attack will be brought to light. Our priority is to identify the suicide attacker,” Naqvi said.
The minister linked the Islamabad blast to a parallel incident in Wana, where a vehicle-borne suicide attacker detonated at an entry point of Cadet College Wana in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province the previous day.
Clearance operations are ongoing in Wana, Naqvi said, and added that evidence points to involvement and coordination from Afghanistan, including communications and training there. He warned that suspects had travelled to Afghanistan, received instructions and training, and then returned to carry out attacks.
“If Afghanistan fails to restrain these hostile elements, Pakistan will have no choice but to act,” the interior minister said, adding that there would be no compromise on national security. He vowed that all individuals involved in the court attack would be identified and brought to justice.
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif described the attack as a “wake-up call,” warning that Pakistan remains in a state of war against networks striking from beyond its borders. “Anyone who thinks this fight is confined to the tribal areas is mistaken,” he said.
Officials say Pakistan’s patience is running thin over Kabul’s failure to curb cross-border militancy, warning that continued inaction could have “serious consequences” for regional stability.
