Eleven people, including a judge, were killed and 26 injured when six assailants attacked the District court in Central Islamabad with hand grenades and weapons on Monday, officials said.
Four of the assailants managed to escape, while two blew themselves up after police beseiged them.
Six assailants barged into the district court at around 8:30 am (local time) and started firing in the courtroom.
"They also hurled hand grenades on the people present in and outside the courtroom," Skindar Hayat, the Inspector General of Islamabad police told reporters. As a result, eleven people, including the judge, Rifaqat Awan, who was hearing a case, along with two lawyers were killed.
"Some 26 people were injured in the attack, a rare happening in an otherwise safe Islamabad," Hayat said. The condition of some of those injured is stated to be critical.
"It seems that the attackers had no specific target. They were firing indiscriminately, at whoever they saw, they fired at me," Iffat Rizvi, an eyewitness told Anadolu Agency.
The attack badly damaged two courtrooms. "They fired at people outside the courtroom first, then they hurled hand grenades at lawyers, offices, and inside the courtroom." Rizvi continued.
Newly-emerged militant group claim responsibility for Islambad court attack
A previously unheard-of militant group has claimed responsibility for an attack on an Islamabad court that killed 11 and injured 26 on Monday morning.
In a fax message to local newspapers, an unnamed spokesman for Ahrar-ul-Hind said the group had no association with Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a coalition of different militants groups.
"We have nothing to do with the ceasefire announced by the TTP," the spokesman said.
"The government is preparing to hoodwink the Mujahiddin in the name of peace talks. Therefore, we are not bound to comply with the so-called ceasefire and will continue our struggle," he added.
A judge was amongst those killed when six assailants attacked the district court in Central Islamabad with hand grenades and weapons on Monday, officials said.
Four of the assailants managed to escape, while two blew themselves up after police beseiged them.
Six assailants barged into the district court at around 8:30 am (local time) and started firing in the courtroom.
"They also hurled hand grenades on the people present in and outside the courtroom," Skindar Hayat, the Inspector General of Islamabad police told reporters. As a result, eleven people, including the judge, Rifaqat Awan, who was hearing a case, along with two lawyers were killed.
"Some 26 people were injured in the attack, a rare happening in an otherwise safe Islamabad," Hayat said. The condition of some of those injured is stated to be critical.
"It seems that the attackers had no specific target. They were firing indiscriminately, at whoever they saw, they fired at me," Iffat Rizvi, an eyewitness told Anadolu Agency.
The attack badly damaged two courtrooms. "They fired at people outside the courtroom first, then they hurled hand grenades at lawyers, offices, and inside the courtroom," Rizvi continued.
No group have claimed responsibility for the attack, however Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), who announced a month-long ceasefire with the government on Saturday, has denied its hand in the incident.
The TTP spokesperson Shahidullah Shahid told local Geo TV that no TTP affiliated group is involved in the attack.
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