Pakistan investigates the suicide bombing that killed 12 outside an Islamabad court

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ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan opened a probe Wednesday into the suicide bombing outside an Islamabad district court that left 12 dead the day before, underscoring the challenges facing the government as it struggles with militant attacks, border tensions and a fragile ceasefire with Afghanistan.

The attack at the court, located on the edge of the city and next to a residential area, also raised alarms that despite multiple operations by the security forces to crush the militants, they are still capable of mounting high-profile bombings — even in the Pakistani capital.

Pakistan has struggled with a surge in militant attacks in recent years but until Tuesday's bombing, Islamabad has largely been considered a safer place.

Forensic teams and police were combing Wednesday through debris at the site of the blast, which had been sealed to preserve evidence. Across the city, grief-stricken relatives were receiving the bodies of their slain loved ones at an Islamabad hospital.

Later, funeral prayers got underway for some of the slain victims. Most of the 27 people wounded in the bombing had been released home after treatment.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi alleged in the immediate aftermath of Tuesday's bombing that the attack was “carried out by Indian-backed elements and Afghan Taliban proxies” linked to the Pakistani Taliban.

He offered no evidence for his claim and also said authorities were “looking into all aspects” of the explosion.

India and Afghanistan's Taliban-led government, which both reject Pakistan’s accusations, have been working to increase ties in areas like business and humanitarian aid, despite not having formal diplomatic relations.

Naqvi also blamed the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, for the attack. Pakistan has long claimed that the Afghan Taliban have been sheltering TTP leaders and fighters, a claim Kabul denies.

The TTP denied involvement on Tuesday while a breakaway faction, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, claimed responsibility, only to have one of its commanders later contradict that claim.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar split from the TTP after its leader was killed in Afghanistan in 2022; some members have since rejoined the TTP while others remain independent, underscoring deep divisions within Pakistan’s militant networks.

The Islamabad attack drew widespread condemnation from the international community.

Defense Minister Khawaja Asif told Geo News that the Islamabad bombing was “a message for Pakistan” meant to show insurgents can carry out attacks deep inside the country.

Asked whether Pakistan would retaliate and possibly target TTP hideouts in Afghanistan, he said "it cannot be ruled out” and again urged Kabul to rein in militants operating from there.

On Monday night, four militants targeted an army-run college for cadets in the northwestern city of Wana. The police said four of the attackers — including a suicide car bomber — were killed and more than 600 people, including 525 cadets, their teachers and other staff, were safely rescued during the overnight assault.

The attack unfolded when a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the college gate. Troops quickly fanned out across the campus to prevent the attackers from reaching the buildings where cadets and staff had taken shelter.

Footage aired on Pakistani news channels Wednesday showed soldiers evacuating students using wooden ladders and breaking windows to get inside the dormitories. The evacuees were later transported to safety in armored vehicles, officials said.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack.

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the attackers appeared to be attempting a repeat of the 2014 Peshawar school massacre — the deadliest assault on a school in the country — when a breakaway TTP faction killed 154 people, mostly children, at an army-run school in Peshawar.

Tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have risen since last month, when Kabul accused Islamabad of carrying out drone strikes on Oct. 9 that killed several people in the Afghan capital.

The strikes sparked cross-border clashes that left dozens of soldiers, civilians, and militants dead before Qatar brokered a cease-fire on Oct. 19. Two rounds of follow-up peace talks in Istanbul ended without progress after Kabul refused to provide written assurances that militants would not use Afghan soil to stage attacks in Pakistan.

The TTP, which is allied with but separate from the Afghan Taliban, has been emboldened since the Taliban 2021 takeover of Afghanistan.

As Pakistan's tensions with both India and Afghanistan remain high, New Delhi and Kabul have upgraded ties.

India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and acting Afghan Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi, who obtained a temporary exemption from travel ban under U.N. sanctions, met in New Delhi in September. And last month, India said its technical mission in Kabul would become a full embassy — the first high-level diplomatic engagement since the Taliban took power.

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Associated Press writers Ishtiaq Mahsud in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, and Riaz Khan and Rasool Dawar in Peshawar, Pakistan, contributed to this story