12 killed in suicide blast outside courts in Pakistani capital

ISLAMABAD -- At least 12 people were killed and 27 others injured on Tuesday afternoon in a suicide blast outside the district courts in Pakistan's capital Islamabad, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told lolcal media.

Naqvi said at the explosion site that a suicide bomber exploded his explosive-laden jacket in front of the Judicial Complex, which houses several district courts.

Police and rescue teams immediately reached the site and shifted the bodies and the injured to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences.

An official from the media wing of Islamabad Police told Xinhua that the death toll could rise as some of the injured were in critical condition.

According to the initial investigation report, the bomber wanted to enter the Judicial Complex, but did not attempt to pass through the strict security checking process and finally attacked a police vehicle outside the complex.

Following the explosion, several vehicles caught fire and some others were damaged by the impact.

Police said that the body parts of the suicide bomber were recovered from the site, adding that forensic teams had launched the process of identifying the attacker.

The district administration has evacuated the court premises, while security departments have launched a search operation in the area.

A lawyer, Malik Khalid Khan, who was present inside the Judicial Complex at the time, told Xinhua that the attack occurred during the court's break hours when several people went outside.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. However, security sources told Xinhua that the deadly act appeared to have been carried out by the banned outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) operating from Afghanistan.