Islamabad: Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has said that both suicide bombers involved in this week’s twin attacks were Afghan nationals, with authorities announcing multiple arrests, Al Jazeera reported.
Naqvi made the statement in parliament on Thursday during a televised session.
On Wednesday, at least 12 people were killed and more than 30 others were injured—several critically—after a suicide bomber detonated himself at the entrance of the Islamabad District Judicial Complex, according to Al Jazeera.
The Counter-Terrorism Department in Rawalpindi, Punjab, said seven suspects had been arrested in connection with the Islamabad blast. According to the Dawn newspaper, the suspects were picked up from Rawalpindi’s Fauji Colony and Dhoke Kashmirian, while another raid was carried out in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Al Jazeera reported.
The second suicide attack occurred on Monday at a college in South Waziristan, KP.
Cadet College, located near the Afghan border, was targeted when an explosive-laden vehicle rammed its main gate. Police said two attackers were killed at the gate, while three others managed to enter the premises.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have deteriorated sharply in recent years, with Islamabad accusing armed fighters based across the border of launching attacks inside Pakistan. Kabul, however, denies providing sanctuary to such groups, Al Jazeera reported.
Dozens of soldiers and several civilians were killed in border clashes between the two countries last month.
On Tuesday, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif warned that Pakistan may carry out strikes inside Afghanistan following this week’s attacks, saying the country was “in a state of war.”
“Anyone who thinks the Pakistan Army is fighting this war only in the Afghan-Pakistan border region or the remote areas of Balochistan should take today’s suicide attack at the Islamabad district courts as a wake-up call,” he said.
