At least 13 people were killed and more than 50 wounded after a suicide bomber attacked a court in the Pakistani city of Mardan Friday, police said, the latest assault targeting Pakistan’s legal community.
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The attacker first threw a hand grenade at the courts gates, then ran into the court and detonated his bomb.
Ejaz Khan said the dead included at least two policemen as well as lawyers and clerks.
Emergency has been declared in all the hospitals of the district.
Today’s attack on court occurred hours after four heavily-armed suicide attackers tried to storm a Christian colony in Peshawar, killing one person and wounding several others before being gunned down by security forces.
No militant group has yet claimed responsibility for Friday’s court attack, but Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said the bombing would “not shatter our unflinching resolve in our war against terrorism”. Last month, a blast in southern Balochistan province capital Quetta killed more than 70 people, almost wiping out the senior lawyers of the city.
Police official Shaukat Khan said four militants wearing suicide vests entered the colony and one of them went into a church, but no one was there.
A Pakistani Taliban splinter group claimed responsibility for both attacks in an emailed statement.
Director General Inter-Services Public Relations Lt-Gen Asim Bajwa tweeted that all four terrorists have been killed.
The area has been cordoned off.
“A house to house search is in progress”, it said.
At least 14 people were killed in two attacks in northern Pakistan Friday, according to authorities.
The army launched an operation in June 2014 in a bid to wipe out militant bases in the tribal areas and so bring an end to the bloody insurgency that has cost thousands of civilian lives since 2004.
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In a statement, the prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, said: “These cowardly attacks can not shatter our unflinching resolve in our war against terrorism”.
