Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Thursday said the suicide bomber involved in the blast at Islamabad’s judicial complex was “related to Afghanistan”, while Rawalpindi’s Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) arrested seven suspects who allegedly facilitated the attack.

Speaking on the Senate floor, Naqvi termed the alleged links to Tuesday’s blast incident, which killed 12 people and injured 35, a “very serious” concern. He noted that Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and Defence Minister Khawaja Asif have also been informed about the matter.

Referring to the attack on Cadet College Wana in South Waziristan on November 10, the interior minister said the suicide bomber involved in that incident was also from Afghanistan.

“It is becoming very difficult for us; the way people from Afghanistan are coming here and attacking us,” he said, adding that with Deputy PM Ishaq Dar also taking up the issue, they will do “whatever is possible” to tackle it.

Naqvi said the government was ensuring that illegal Afghans residing in Pakistan were driven out.

Later today, Naqvi said on X that he had a “deeply reassuring telephonic call” with Bahrain’s Interior Minister General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, who “unequivocally condemned the terrorist attack in Islamabad and conveyed heartfelt condolences on the loss of innocent lives”.

The Bahrain minister also reaffirmed his country’s “unwavering support and solidarity with Pakistan at all times”, Naqvi added.

7 suspected facilitators arrested

Earlier today, Rawalpindi’s CTD arrested seven suspects who allegedly facilitated the suicide bomb blast in Islamabad.

According to a police source, the “suspected facilitators have been arrested from Rawalpindi’s Fauji Colony (Pirwadhai area) and Dhoke Kashmirian. Moreover, a raid was also conducted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.”

Yesterday, investigators had detained a bike rider of an online ride-hailing platform who had dropped off the bom­ber outside at the location.

A police official had said the bomber paid the fare to the bike rider against the ride, adding that he was traced and identified through the CCTV footage.

After his location was traced, the police picked him up and shifted him to an installation where he was being kept under protective custody.

The incident had occurred as international events were being hosted in the capital, including the Inter-Parliamentary Speakers’ Conference and the 6th Margalla Dialogue, while a cricket match between the Green Shirts and Sri Lanka was also being held in Rawalpindi.

The blast had occurred the same day a bomb attack targeted a security forces’ convoy in KP’s Dera Ismail Khan district, injuring at least 14 personnel.

A day before that, the Cadet College in South Waziristan’s Wana had come under attack. While all students and teachers were reported to have been safely rescued and all terrorists holed up inside the building were killed, the clearance operation resulted in the martyrdom of three individuals.

‘State of war’

In the wake of the Islamabad and Wana attacks, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif yesterday accused Afghanistan and India of involvement in recent terrorism, and vowed a “befitting response” to the nation’s enemies.

Hours after the blast, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had termed the incident a “wake-up call” and said Pakistan was “in a state of war”.

“Anyone who thinks that the Pakistan Army is fighting this war in the Afghan-Pakistan border region and the remote areas of Balochistan, today’s suicide attack at the Islamabad district courts is a wake-up call,” he had said, voicing lack of hope for successful counter-terrorism negotiations with Kabul.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi had said, “We are linking this blast today with a lot of things and, in the coming hours or days, we will be very clear about it.”

“We are not taking this blast as just another one,” he added, noting that its timing and the federal capital being targeted “has a lot of messages”.

Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry had said that the suicide bomber was “not a Pakistani national”.

Elaborating on the matter in an interview, Chaudhry said: “The suicide attacker in the Islamabad blast was not a Pakistani. I am confirming this to you. He did not know Pakistan’s language nor did he know of the country’s currency.”