Reuters
[Photo Credit: Reuters]
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 Kabul denied – and vowed retaliation if Afghan authorities failed to rein in the militants Islamabad says were responsible.
Pakistan is locked in confrontation with Kabul and New Delhi, fighting a four-day war with India in May and then last month carrying out airstrikes in Afghanistan, including Kabul, in response to what it said was the presence of Pakistani militants there. Subsequent skirmishes on the Pakistan-Afghan border were followed by unsuccessful peace talks.
The main Pakistani jihadist group, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, otherwise known as the Pakistani Taliban, denied involvement in the attacks.
Pakistani Taliban militants have in recent years focused attacks on security forces. Civilians had not been hit in Islamabad for a decade, according to Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, a group that tracks attacks.
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