Category World News

Islamabad, Pakistan – Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has blamed India for the “suicide attack” that struck outside the district and sessions court building in Islamabad on Tuesday afternoon.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said at least 12 people were killed and hospital authorities confirmed more than 30 wounded, including at least five in critical condition.

The blast occurred as Islamabad hosted several international conferences and while sports events were also under way nearby. The Sri Lankan cricket team, which was attacked in March 2009 by gunmen in Pakistan, was playing a one-day international match in Rawalpindi, about 10km (6 miles) from the court.

The suicide attack marked a dramatic escalation of violence at a time when the military was focused on rescuing hundreds of cadets held by fighters in a separate incident at Cadet College in South Waziristan, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, near the Afghan border.

The assault on the college in Wana, the district capital, occurred a day earlier when an explosives-laden car rammed the campus entrance. Security forces say at least 300 cadets have been rescued so far and that operations to free the remainder are ongoing.

On Tuesday, another bomb in Dera Ismail Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, injured at least 14 security personnel.

Sharif blamed India for both the Islamabad and Wana incidents without offering evidence. “Both attacks are the worst examples of Indian state terrorism in the region. It is time for the world to condemn such nefarious conspiracies of India,” he said.

A day earlier, a car explosion in New Delhi killed at least 13 people. India’s Home Minister Amit Shah said on X that India would “hunt down each and every culprit behind this incident”.

Here is what we know so far about the Islamabad blast.

Where did the blast happen?

The suicide bomber struck after 12:30pm (07:30 GMT) at the entrance of the District Judicial Complex on Srinagar Highway, one of Islamabad’s main arteries.

Opened three years ago, the complex handles thousands of litigants and draws large numbers of lawyers daily. The complex has several gates, with a side entrance used primarily by judges and a main gate for litigants.

Key political and civic institutions – the Parliament, Supreme Court, and offices of the president and prime minister – are about 15km (9 miles) away.

Has anyone claimed responsibility?

The Jamaa-ul-Ahrar, a breakaway faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) armed group, claimed responsibility for the attack.

The TTP, an ideological ally of the Afghan Taliban, itself denied any role in the Islamabad attack.

Pakistan has suffered a series of attacks from the TTP in recent years that have led to the deaths of hundreds of security officials and civilians. Pakistan has repeatedly accused the Afghan Taliban of sheltering the TTP, a charge Kabul denies. The TTP are at the centre of recent tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan, including a series of deadly cross-border clashes.

Pakistan’s capital, however, has largely stayed peaceful in recent years. The last major attack in Islamabad was in December 2022, when a car rammed a police post and a police officer died. The TTP had claimed responsibility for that attack.

What did witnesses see?

As Islamabad’s main district court, the judicial complex sees thousands of litigants visiting the court premises for their various cases. Thousands of lawyers also come to the complex for their daily duties.

Raja Aleem Abbasi, a member of the Islamabad Bar Council, was taking a break in the main courtyard when the blast shook the compound.

“It was a deafening blast, and complete chaos and panic set in. As we regained composure, I saw the head of the suicide bomber, which had flown from outside, rolling just in front of me, merely a few feet away,” a shaken Abbasi told Al Jazeera.

Abbasi, 60, said hundreds tried to flee, but the main entrance was blocked. “Soon, the entrance used for the judges was open for the public, allowing us to escape,” he added.

He estimated about 2,000 people were on the premises when the device detonated.

Mushahid Dawar, another lawyer, said he had left the compound on his motorcycle minutes before the blast but returned when he heard it.

“I had left for the office from the court when I heard the blast, and instinctively I turned back. However, as I saw so many bodies strewn on the road, I just could not bear the sight and decided to leave,” Dawar told Al Jazeera.

What is the wider context?

The attacks coincide with a fraught period in Pakistan-Afghanistan ties. The two neighbours were locked in a week of clashes last month before Qatar and Türkiye mediated a ceasefire in Doha on October 19.

Follow-up talks in Istanbul have, however, failed to resolve differences, and negotiations collapsed again over the weekend following the third round of talks.

Pakistan long enjoyed close ties with the Afghan Taliban and many Pakistanis welcomed the militants’ return to power in August 2021.

But relations have soured, largely over Pakistan’s accusations that Kabul has provided sanctuary to the TTP, an armed group that emerged in 2007 and has waged a sustained campaign against Islamabad.

Besides the TTP, Pakistan also accuses Afghanistan of sheltering the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and the ISIL affiliate in Khorasan Province (ISKP). The Taliban government denies responsibility for Pakistan’s internal security concerns.

Regional powers including China, Iran and Russia have urged the Taliban to act against the TTP. That message was reiterated at the Moscow Format consultations in early October, attended by Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban’s foreign minister.

Shortly after the blast, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif wrote on X that the country 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 should take today’s suicide attack at the Islamabad district courts as a wake-up call: this is a war for all of Pakistan, in which the Pakistan Army is giving daily sacrifices and making the people feel secure,” he wrote.

Why is India being blamed?

The year 2025 has seen shifting regional alignments. Relations between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban, once close, now stand at a breaking point, despite the current year seeing several attempts to patch up the relationship.

Pakistan appointed an ambassador to Kabul and engaged in multiple diplomatic dialogues, but relations have deteriorated.

India, which long treated the Taliban as a Pakistani proxy and shunned contact, has, on the other hand, strengthened its diplomatic and strategic ties in recent years, as witnessed by a visit by Afghanistan’s foreign minister to India last year.

Islamabad has historically accused New Delhi of stoking unrest in Balochistan and has more recently alleged Indian support for the TTP, charges India rejects.

What do experts say?

Analysts warn that if tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan remain unresolved, instability is likely to spill across borders and provoke further attacks inside Pakistan’s cities.

Ihsanullah Tipu Mehsud, a security analyst in Islamabad, said the TTP has the capability to strike major cities but has largely concentrated its operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“The Pakistani Taliban believe that if they continue attacking security personnel in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, they can weaken the control of administration and that will allow them opportunity to capture parts of the province, where they can make their bases,” Mehsud told Al Jazeera.

Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer is facing mounting calls to step aside after seven Democrats broke ranks with the party to vote for a Republican-led proposal to end the government shutdown without receiving concessions.

The deal does not resolve extending healthcare subsidies under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which was one of the main demands from the Democrats.

The progressive section of the Democratic Party has blamed Schumer for the passing of the bill in the Senate on Monday, ending the longest shutdown in the country’s history.

“He’s the leader of the Senate. This deal would never have happened if he had not blessed it. Don’t take my word for it. Take the word of other senators who are saying that they kept Senator Schumer in the loop the whole time,” Democratic Representative Ro Khanna told CBS News.

The measure approved by the Senate would fund parts of the government until January 30, but excludes ACA health insurance subsidies that benefit some 24 million Americans.

The Senate Republicans, however, have agreed to hold another vote in December to decide on the healthcare subsidies. But it is not guaranteed that the healthcare subsidies will be approved.

Which Democrats voted to end the shutdown?

In the Senate, Republicans hold 53 seats and Democrats have 47, but Republicans do not have the 60 votes needed to advance bills. Eight senators who caucus with the Democrats voted to move the Republican measure forward.

Democratic senators who voted for the motion to advance the bill included Dick Durbin of Illinois; Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire; John Fetterman of Pennsylvania; Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen of Nevada; and Tim Kaine of Virginia.

Independent Senator Angus King of Maine, who caucuses with the Democrats, also voted in favour of the measure.

Why are the Democrats calling out Schumer?

Schumer, 74, did not vote in favour of the measure on Monday, but he is being accused by the party leaders of allowing the centrist Democrats to strike a deal with the Senate Republicans.

In his Senate speech on Monday, Schumer raised the issue of healthcare, saying, “The American people will not forget Donald Trump’s cruelty and heartlessness over the past six weeks,” Schumer said.

But progressive Democrats have not absolved him for failing to stop the defections.

“Leadership is about changing and adapting when there is real need, and unless we hear that, we will fail to meet the moment,” Democratic Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin said in a statement.

Representative Khanna wrote on X on Monday, “Schumer is no longer effective and should be replaced.”

In another interview with an online US politics show, Khanna slammed Schumer for his stance on Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, as well as his support for the 2003 Iraq war.

“You’ve had Schumer cheerleading the Iraq War, cheerleading a blank cheque to [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, betraying us on the first shutdown … and now he’s not even willing to fight!” he told the Breaking Points.

Khanna added that Schumer should be “replaced” and the only reason more Democrats are not calling for it is that it would “offend a lot of donors”.

“Are we gonna be beholden to the donors that have gotten us two terms of Donald Trump, or are we gonna listen to people?” he asked.

While Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) of New York did not explicitly call out Schumer, she wrote in an X post on Monday: “The average ACA benefit is up to $550 a person/mo. People want us to hold the line for a reason. This is not a matter of appealing to a base. It’s about people’s lives. Working people want leaders whose word means something.”

Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib said that “the Democratic Party needs leaders who fight and deliver for working people. Schumer should step down.”

“After 40 days of holding firm, with public opinion and momentum on our side, establishment Democrats decided to cave to Trump,” left-wing activist Saikat Chakrabarti, who is running for Congress to represent San Francisco, said. “Schumer and the entire democratic leadership need to step down — and if they run for re-election, we need to primary them.”

The Senate vote came days after democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani won the New York mayoral election on the Democratic Party ticket. Mamdani was not endorsed by a number of Democrats, including Schumer.

But House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries defended Schumer. “Leader Schumer and Senate Democrats over the last seven weeks have waged a valiant fight on behalf of the American people,” he said on Monday.

Since the beginning of the shutdown, Democratic senators voted 14 times not to reopen the government as they demanded the extension of the ACA tax credits.

Schumer also faced the ire of party leaders when he backed a deal to avert a shutdown in March without getting concessions on healthcare subsidies.

Congresswoman AOC, a member of the progressive wing of the party, had called the vote a “tremendous mistake”. “I think there is a deep sense of outrage and betrayal,” she had told reporters.

While Democrats saw success in the recent local elections, emerging rifts now highlight a widening gap between the establishment Democrats and progressive and left-wing Democrats.

Can Schumer be removed?

Schumer can be removed from his position as the Senate minority leader in internal Democratic leadership elections, which would be held after the November 2026 Senate elections. The 45 Democratic senators and two independents who caucus with Democrats get to vote on this.

Undated video circulating on social media shows Russian troops moving through dense fog in Pokrovsk as Moscow steps up efforts to reinforce positions. Ukraine says around 300 Russian soldiers are in the town and are trying to push north to encircle the area.