Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said during a televised session of parliament on Thursday that both suicide bombers involved in this week’s attacks were Afghan nationals, according to Al Jazeera.
On Wednesday, a suicide bomber detonated explosives at the entrance of Islamabad’s district court complex, killing at least 12 people and injuring more than 30, several critically.
The Punjab Anti-Terrorism Squad in Rawalpindi said seven suspects linked to the Islamabad bomb attack have been arrested. According to Dawn, the suspects were nabbed in raids in Fauji Colony in Rawalpindi and Kashmir’s Dhoka, while another operation was conducted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), an Al Jazeera report noted.
A second suicide attack took place on Monday at a college in South Waziristan, KP.
The Cadet College, located close to the Afghan border, was attacked when a vehicle packed with explosives crashed into its main entrance. Police said two attackers were killed at the gate while three others managed to enter the compound.
The ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan have become increasingly strained in recent years. Islamabad says militants hiding on the Afghan side of the border have carried out attacks in Pakistan, which Kabul denies, according to Al Jazeera.
Just last month, deadly border clashes between the two nations left many soldiers and several civilians dead.
On Tuesday, Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said Pakistan may launch strikes inside Afghanistan after this week’s attacks, saying the country was “in a state of war”.
“Anyone who thinks the Pakistan Army is waging this war in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region and remote areas of Balochistan should take today’s suicide attack at the district courts in Islamabad as a wake-up call,” he said.
Tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have risen sharply since last month after Afghanistan blamed Islamabad for drone strikes on October 9 that killed several people in Kabul. The incident sparked cross-border fighting that left dozens of military and civilian casualties before Qatar brokered a ceasefire on 19 October.
