Liberal Party will meet today to finalise net zero position; Suicide blast outside a court in Pakistan kills 12, injures 27
A suicide bomber killed 12 people overnight in Pakistan’s capital; The country’s defense minister said militant violence had increased sharply, which he said was pushing the country into a “state of war”.
Pakistani government ministers have accused neighboring Afghanistan of complicity in the bloodshed – a charge Kabul has denied – and vowed retaliation if Afghan officials fail to rein in militants whom Islamabad says are responsible.
“We are at war,” Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said after the attack, which was the first attack on civilians in Islamabad in a decade.
Pakistani investigators examine a car damaged in a suicide attack outside the gates of a district court in Islamabad, Pakistan.Credit: access point
“Taking this fight to Islamabad is a message from Kabul to which Pakistan has full authority to respond.”
Pakistan faced Kabul and New Delhi. It waged a four-day war with India in May and last month launched airstrikes in Afghanistan, including Kabul, in response to the presence of Pakistani militants. Later clashes on the Pakistan-Afghan border were followed by failed peace talks.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack, in which a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a crowded lower court in Islamabad. Pakistan’s main jihadist group, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, also known as the Pakistani Taliban, has denied involvement in the attacks.
Reuters
