ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met at the Presidency on Tuesday to discuss the country’s security situation following a series of terrorist attacks.
Earlier in the day, a suicide bombing outside the district and sessions court in Islamabad claimed 12 lives and left 36 others injured.
In a separate incident in Dera Ismail Khan, 14 security personnel were wounded in a bomb attack, while an operation to eliminate three terrorists at Wana Cadet College was still underway.
While condemning the recent acts of terrorism, the two leaders reaffirmed that operations against foreign-sponsored terrorists and their facilitators would continue until terrorism is completely eliminated from the country, according to a Press Release issued by the President’s House.
The President and the Prime Minister also discussed matters of national importance.
Senate Chairman Yousaf Raza Gilani, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, and federal ministers Syed Mushtaq Raza Naqvi, Chaudhry Salik Hussain, Azam Nazeer Tarar, Khalid Hussain Magsi, and Abdul Aleem Khan also attended the meeting.
Terrorist attacks shake Pakistan
Pakistan was rocked on Tuesday by two major terrorist attacks — a deadly suicide bombing in the capital and an ongoing terrorist assault in the northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
In Islamabad, a suicide bomber detonated explosives outside the district and sessions court complex, killing at least 12 people and injuring 27 others, according to police and hospital officials.
The powerful blast ripped through the congested area during working hours, sending plumes of smoke into the sky and causing panic among nearby residents and court staff. Officials said several of the injured were in critical condition.
On Tuesday, a military operation was underway at the Wana Cadet College in South Waziristan, where security forces engaged three Afghan terrorists who had stormed the educational institution.
Pakistan’s security forces have safely rescued all 650 students and staff stranded inside the college after “Indian-sponsored” Afghan terrorists attacked the educational institution, security sources said on Tuesday.
Security sources confirmed that the clearance operation had entered its final phase, with the remaining three Afghan terrorists cornered inside the college’s administrative block.
“All students and staff have been safely rescued and moved to a safer place,” a senior security source said, adding that the operation would continue “until the last terrorist is eliminated.”
Earlier, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said at least three people were martyred during the rescue operation.
Islamabad has repeatedly urged Kabul to take decisive action against the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and allied factions operating from Afghan soil.
