Caroline Davies,<\/span>Pakistan correspondent, Islamabad<\/span> and <\/span><\/p>\n Dearbail Jordan<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n A suicide attack outside a court in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad has killed 12 people and injured at least 27 more, the country’s interior minister said.<\/p>\n Mohsin Naqvi said a bomber was planning to attack the district courthouse but was unable to get inside.<\/p>\n Naqvi said authorities would prioritise identifying the bomber, and that those involved would be brought to justice. It remains unclear who carried out the attack. <\/p>\n Suicide blasts in Islamabad have been rare in recent years. Footage from the scene on Tuesday showed the remains of a burnt-out car and a police cordon in place.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The 27 people injured are receiving medical treatment, Naqvi said.<\/p>\n He added that the attacker detonated the bomb close to a police car after waiting for up to 15 minutes. <\/p>\n Footage of the aftermath showed plumes of smoke rising from a charred vehicle behind a security barrier. The incident occurred at 12:39 local time (07:39 GMT).<\/p>\n Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said he “strongly condemned the suicide blast”. <\/p>\n A lawyer who said he was parking his car outside the court at the time described hearing a “loud bang”.<\/p>\n Rustam Malik told AFP news agency “it was complete chaos”.<\/p>\n “Lawyers and people were running inside the complex,” he added. “I saw two dead bodies lying on the gate and several cars were on fire.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has claimed that extremist groups “actively backed by India” were involved.<\/p>\n In a statement, he said that “terrorist attacks on unarmed citizens of Pakistan by India’s terrorist proxies are condemnable”.<\/p>\n Delhi has not responded to the accusations. It has previously denied such claims.<\/p>\n![\"Police](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/8509\/live\/af871dc0-bef8-11f0-a970-eb79eb0c7376.jpg.webp\")
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