At least 12 people were killed when a suicide bomber struck outside the gates of Pakistan’s local court on Tuesday and detonated an explosive next to a police car, the interior minister said.
There was also an explosion in the capital, Islamabad, injuring at least 27 people.
Later that day, the Pakistan Taliban’s breakaway Jamaat-ul-Ahrar group claimed responsibility for the attack in a message to reporters from the group’s leader, Omar Mukkaram Khurasani.
However, Sarvakakh Mohmand, an influential commander within the group, sent a message denying any responsibility for the attack.
Authorities have struggled in recent months with a resurgence of the Pakistani Taliban, border tensions and an uneasy ceasefire with neighboring Afghanistan.
The explosion, which could be heard miles away, occurred during a busy time when the area outside the courthouse is usually crowded with hundreds of visitors attending hearings.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told reporters that the gunman “tried to enter the court premises, but was unable to do so and targeted a police vehicle.”
Previous reports from state media and two security officials said a car bomb was the cause of the explosion.
Naqvi claimed that the attack was “carried out by Indian-backed elements and proxies of the Afghan Taliban” with ties to the Pakistani Taliban.
But he said authorities were “investigating all aspects” of the explosion.
Police quickly sealed off the area around the courtroom as smoke billowed into the sky after the explosion.
“People started running in all directions,” said Mohammad Afzal, who was in the courtroom at the time.
Naqvi said a severed head, which police said belonged to the attacker, was found nearby, confirming that the explosion was a suicide bomber.
The culprit was later spotted on surveillance camera footage at the scene.
Prime Minister promises accountability
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack in Islamabad and called for a thorough investigation, according to a statement released by his office.
He said those responsible must be brought to justice quickly.
“We will definitely arrest the perpetrators and hold them accountable,” he said.
Mr Sharif called the attack on unarmed civilians “reprehensible”, adding: “We will not allow the blood of innocent Pakistanis to go to waste.”
Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif said on the X program that the country is at war and blame lies with the Afghan Taliban government, accusing Islamabad of harboring the Pakistani Taliban.
Asif said Afghanistan “can act to stop terrorism in Pakistan, but taking this war to Islamabad is a message from Kabul,” warning that Pakistan “has the full capacity to respond.”
The Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), is listed as a terrorist organization by the European Union, the United States, and the United Nations.
The overrun of the Afghan Taliban in Kabul in 2021 is believed to have emboldened the TTP, with many of the group’s leaders and fighters fleeing to Afghanistan.
Kabul denies defending the TTP.
Pakistan has seen a sharp increase in attacks by armed groups in recent years. The deadliest assault occurred in 2014, when TTP breakaways killed 154 people, mostly children, at a military-run school in Peshawar.
Peace talks between Afghanistan and Pakistan stalled
Tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have increased in recent months.
Kabul has accused Islamabad of an October 9 drone attack that killed several people in the Afghan capital and vowed retaliation.
Dozens of soldiers, civilians and militants were killed in the ensuing cross-border fighting, but Qatar brokered a cease-fire on October 19 that remains in place.
Since then, two rounds of peace talks have been held in Istanbul, the last on Thursday, but ended without an agreement after Kabul refused to provide written guarantees that the TTP and other militant groups would not use Afghan territory to attack Pakistan.
A brief ceasefire between Pakistan and the TTP brokered by Kabul in 2022 later collapsed after the group accused Islamabad of violations.