At least 12 people were killed and 20 others injured in a suicide attack outside a court building in Pakistan's capital Islamabad on Tuesday, according to the state media.
The explosion was reported near a district and sessions court in the G-11 area, according to the Dawn newspaper.
The rescue authorities have retrieved 12 bodies, state-run Pakistan Television (PTV) reported.
The rescue authorities have retrieved 12 bodies, state-run Pakistan Television (PTV) reported.
"The bodies of 12 individuals killed in the blast have been transferred to PIMS (Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences) Hospital,” it said on X.
It added that 20 injured individuals have been shifted to the emergency department of the PIMS Hospital.
PTV further reported that it was a suicide bombing. “The suicide bomber's head was found lying on the road,” it reported.
No group or individual claimed responsibility for the blast, but the attack came days after the third round of talks between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban failed to reach any agreement to tackle the issue of terrorism emanating from Afghanistan.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi visited the site of the blast and vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Some of them are in critical condition, a police spokesperson said.
"We are probing what kind of blast it was. It is not clear yet. We will be able to provide more details after we get a report from our forensic team," he said.
The blast occurred near the entrance of Islamabad district court, which is typically crowded with a large number of litigants.
Local media showed gory pictures of the site, with bloodied individuals lying near a police van, which Reuters was not able to verify independently.
In a separate incident, at least 16 personnel were injured in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast that targeted a security forces’ convoy in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, an official said on Tuesday.
The convoy comprising Pakistan Army and Frontier Corps personnel was returning from Loni Post in Dera Ismail Khan district when the IED blast occurred in Loni village late on Monday.
Meanwhile, six people were injured on Monday after a suicide bomber detonated explosives at the main gate of a Cadet College in the south Waziristan district, bordering Afghanistan, security officials said.
According to security officials, the attack at the Cadet College Wana was reportedly carried out by the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
The Pakistan government last year notified the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as "Fitna al-Khawarij", a reference to a group in earlier Islamic history which was involved in violence.
Pakistan has seen a surge in terrorist attacks, particularly in areas bordering Afghanistan, mostly targeting police, law enforcement personnel, and security forces
Separately, security forces killed at least 20 Taliban militants in two separate engagements in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the army said on Monday.