Pakistan on High Alert: Defense Minister Declares 'State of War' Following Deadly Suicide Bombing

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A suicide bomber killed 12 people in Pakistan’s capital on Tuesday in a sharp escalation of militant violence that the defence minister said had pushed the country into a “state of war”.

Pakistani government ministers accused neighbouring Afghanistan of complicity in the bloodshed — an accusation they denied — and vowed retaliation if Afghan authorities failed to rein in the militants Islamabad says were responsible.

“We are in a state of war,” said defence minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif after the attack, the first strike on civilians in Islamabad in a decade.

“Bringing this war to Islamabad is a message from Kabul, to which Pakistan has the full power to respond.”

Pakistan finds itself embroiled in tense standoffs with both Afghanistan and India. In May, a brief four-day military engagement erupted with India, and more recently, Pakistan launched airstrikes within Afghanistan, including targets in Kabul, citing the presence of Pakistani militants as the provocation.

Unsuccessful peace talks followed subsequent skirmishes on the Pakistan-Afghan border.

No group claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attack, in which a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a busy lower court in Islamabad.

It happened hours after militants stormed a school near the Afghan border on Monday, killing three people.

Attackers were still holed up inside the compound late on Tuesday, with around 500 students and staff trapped in another part of the complex.

The main Pakistani jihadist group, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, otherwise known as the Pakistani Taliban, denied involvement in the attacks.

Militants from the Pakistani Taliban have increasingly targeted security forces in their assaults over the last few years.

Soldiers walking along the road with police and crowds in backdrop

A devastating bomb blast claimed the lives of 12 individuals, leaving numerous others injured. Source: AAP / Ahsan Shahzad / AP

Islamabad says that the Pakistani Taliban and other militants are based in Afghanistan, with the support of India.

“We are totally clear that Afghanistan has to stop them. In case of a failure, we have no option but to take care of those terrorists who are attacking our country,” interior minister Mohsin Naqvi said, speaking at the scene of the court bombing.

Naqvi said that the school assailants were in contact with their handlers in Afghanistan during the attack.

He said the authorities are investigating the backers of the court bombing, adding that an attack in Islamabad “carried a lot of messages”.

Remarkably, it had been a decade since civilians in Islamabad were directly impacted by such violence, according to data compiled by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, an organization that monitors such incidents.

The Taliban administration in Kabul said in a statement that it “expresses its deep sorrow and condemnation” of the attacks.

A spokesman did not respond to a request for comment on Pakistan’s accusations.

Afghanistan denies that its territory is used for attacks on other countries.

The attacks in Pakistan came a day after an explosion in the Indian capital, which killed eight people.