At least eight people were killed and more than 20 others were injured after a powerful blast tore through a car near Islamabad’s judicial complex on Tuesday, Pakistani media reported.
“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,” a police spokesperson told Al Jazeera on Tuesday.
A preliminary investigation suggests the explosion may have been triggered by a gas cylinder fitted inside the parked vehicle.
The blast occurred around 12:30 pm near the entrance of the district court during peak business hours, causing panic among lawyers and court staff.
The impact of the explosion was so strong that it was heard up to six kilometres away, damaging several nearby vehicles. Most of the injured were lawyers and court employees, while police are investigating the possibility of a suicide attack.
The incident came just hours after Pakistan’s security forces thwarted an attempted assault by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants on Cadet College Wana in South Waziristan, killing two attackers.
Pakistan has long struggled with growing militant violence linked to the TTP, whose activities have intensified since the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan. Islamabad has repeatedly accused Kabul of sheltering TTP leaders, straining relations between the two neighbours.
Tuesday’s explosion in Islamabad came a day after a car blast near Delhi’s Red Fort killed 10 people. The Delhi incident coincided with the busting of a terror module linked to Pakistan-based groups Jaish-e-Mohammed and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, from whom police seized 2,900 kg of explosive material.
