At least 31 people were killed and another 169 injured in a suicide bombing at an imambargah in Islamabad, according to authorities.
The explosion occurred at Imambargah Khadijah-tul-Kubra in the Tarlai area of the federal capital.
Images from the site showed bloodied bodies lying on the carpeted floor surrounded by shards of glass, debris, and panicked worshippers.
Dozens more wounded were lying in the garden outside the imambargah as people called for help.
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif suggested India’s and Afghanistan’s involvement in the attack, stating in a post on social media platform X that “it has been proved that the terrorist involved in the attack travelled to and from Afghanistan”.
“The collusion between India and Afghanistan is being revealed,” he said.
The defence minister said that security guards at the site of the incident had “challenged” the attacker, and in response, he opened fire. “He then blew himself up, standing in the last row of worshippers,” he said.
Asif said that the state would respond to this “cruelty with full force”.
“After a humiliating defeat, India is fighting a war through its proxies. It doesn’t have the courage to fight directly now,” he added.
Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry later told the media in Islamabad that while the attacker was not an Afghan, authorities had been able to determine through forensic tests the number of times he had travelled to Afghanistan.
At the outset of his media talk, he said rescue teams from various departments began reaching the site of the incident within 10-12 minutes of the blast.
Regarding the attacker, he said: “Information has been obtained about the terrorist who carried out the suicide attack. He is not an Afghan national, but we have information about the number of times he travelled to Afghanistan after the forensics of his remains.”
