Forensic experts examine a car after a suicide blast outside the district court in Islamabad on November 11, 2025. Photo: VCG

A suicide bomber killed 12 people in Pakistan's capital on Tuesday in a sharp escalation of militant violence that the defense minister said had pushed the country into a "state of war", Reuters reported. 

Earlier Tuesday, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), a faction of the militant Pakistani Taliban (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement seen by CNN. 

The incident occurred outside the district and sessions court building in Islamabad's G-11 area as international events were being hosted in the capital, Pakistani media outlet Dawn reported on Tuesday.

Pakistan Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, while briefing the media outside the court, said that a "suicide blast" had occurred at 12:39 pm. He said that 12 people were killed and 27 were injured, adding that the wounded were being provided medical treatment, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif personally in touch with the hospitals in question, according to the report.

Videos of the incident on social media showed flames and plumes of smoke rising into the air from the remains of a charred vehicle behind a security barrier, per Dawn's report.

Lawyer Mohammed Shahzad Butt, who witnessed the explosion, told AFP that it was a "massive blast".

Qian Feng, director of the research department at the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times on Tuesday that the blast took place in the core area of Pakistan's capital, marking a rare terrorist incident in recent years that occurred in a region with concentrated central government agencies and the strictest security measures.

Washington Post reported that it marks the deadliest attack in the country's heartland in almost a decade and raising the specter of a military response.

In a post on X, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari strongly condemned the suicide blast near Islamabad District Judicial Complex, expressed his condolences to the bereaved families, prayed for the recovery of the injured, and paid tribute to law enforcement agencies.

Qian said that on this occasion, the TTP is demonstrating its intent to engage in an unrelenting standoff against the Pakistani government, and this act also serves as retaliation for Pakistan's deployment of its air force to launch precision strikes on the TTP's militant camps and strongholds within Afghanistan last month.

Pakistan and Afghanistan clashed in the border area in October. Pakistan condemned Afghan provocation in the two countries' border area and demanded that the Afghan government ensure its territory is not used by terrorist elements against Pakistan. Afghanistan said any violation of its soil by anyone will not go unanswered, Xinhua reported.

Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif called the incident a "wake-up call", per the Dawn. "We are 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 said.

Qian said that this bombing will deal a blow to the deadlocked Pakistan-Afghanistan peace talks, exert a negative impact on Pakistan-Afghanistan relations, and may lead to further deterioration of ties between the two sides.

The Chinese Embassy in Pakistan said that there are currently no reports of Chinese casualties in the attack, Xinhua reported.