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Pakistani Taliban attacks Christian neighborhood and courthouse, killing 13

“First there was a small blast followed by a big blast”, Mr Habib told Reuters.

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In March a year ago, a suicide bombing in Lahore left at least 14 people dead.

“So far we recovered 12 bodies of the lawyers, police personnel and civilians”.

A bomb has reportedly gone off in a courtroom located in Mardan, a northern Pakistani city.

The casualties were driven to the Mardan Medical Complex and District Headquarters Hospital where some of the dead were identified as MBA’s former general secretary Yousaf Shah Bacha, ANP leaders Akber Khan Mohmand and Haji Arshad Khan, Advocate Ilyas Saani and policemen Junaid Khan, Ishtiaq and Azam Khan.

In the past, Pakistan has accused Afghan nationals for various attacks.

The Pakistani Taliban faction Jamaat-ur-Ahrar warned that law enforcement will continue to be targeted, as they are “un-Islamic”.

Colonel Naeemullah said that terrorists failed to target any civilians as the security forces managed to restrict the attackers in an under-construction building. Local sources added that the security forces blocked roads for all kinds of traffic as army helicopters also hovered in the sky.

Two soldiers, a police guard and two civilians were wounded too in the firefight with attackers.

Four militants attacked a Christian colony on the outskirts of the northwestern city of Peshawar on Friday morning.

Security forces responded, exchanging fire and killing the four assailants, according to a statement from the Pakistani military’s Inter-Services Public Relations department (ISPR).

Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali also condemned the bomb blast and offered his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families and prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured. “Search in progress”, Bajwa tweeted. The official said the attackers might have been attempting to enter an adjacent security installation by exploiting weaker security arrangements in the residential area. The Christian colony is situated outside the military cantonment.

Taliban militants stormed a school in Peshawar in December 2014, killing more than 150 people, mostly children, in Pakistan’s deadliest-ever terror attack. “We have yet to take financiers of terrorism to the task”, he said.

However, the interior minister admitted that the security situation in the country is not entirely under control.

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The group, whose name translates as The Party of Freedom Fighters, have carried out a string of atrocities including a bombing that killed more than 70 people during Easter celebrations at a park in Lahore.

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