Deadly Court Attack Rocks Pakistan Days After Ceasefire

Armed men and two suicide bombers stormed a court complex in Pakistan’s capital on Monday, leaving at least 11 people dead and dozens injured.

The attack — a rare incident in Islamabad — shocked the country just days after the Pakistani Taliban announced a month-long ceasefire and the government pledged to suspend air strikes against militants, in an attempt to resume peace talks between the two warring parties.

Two to four gunmen reportedly burst into the crowded complex and shot indiscriminately at people, before two suicide bombers set off their explosives when police surrounded them. A judge and several lawyers were reported to be killed, and at least 30 people were wounded.

"The attackers were armed with Kalashnikovs and hand grenades," lawyer Murad Ali Shah, who was in the court at the time of the attack, told reporters. "They were wearing shalwar kameez and had long beards and long hair."

The footage below, by Indian TV channel ABP News, shows the aftermath of the attack.

A bomb and gun attack at a court in Islamabad killed at least 11 people on Monday.

A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban denied any role in the attack in an interview to the New York Times.

“We have nothing to do with the attack. We have announced a ceasefire, and we will follow it for one month,” Shahidullah Shahid told the Times. “Media should restrain itself from blaming us.”

The lesser-known Ahrar ul Hind, a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack, Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported. The group had recently parted ways with the Taliban over the latter’s negotiations with the government, and had promised a surge in attacks.

Asad Mansoor, a spokesperson for Ahrar ul Hind, told the newspaper that the court was targeted because of the country’s “un-Islamic” judicial system, and pledged the attacks would continue until Sharia law is implemented in Pakistan. Mansoor also told BBC Urdu that the group was not part of the Pakistani Taliban and not a party to the ceasefire.

Monday’s attack was the deadliest in the country’s capital in years. Islamabad has been largely spared the violence that has gripped the country as part of homegrown Taliban insurgency during the last several years.

Pakistanis took to social media on Monday to express their shock and horror at the attack, and to pay tribute to the victims, including Fiza Malik, a 25-year-old lawyer who had recently graduated from school in the UK. She had started working at the court just two days before the attack.

Brave daughter of Pakistan lawyer Fiza Malik martyred in today Islamabad Blast. RIP — Dr Sanjay Gangwani (@GangwaniSanjay)March 3, 2014