Death toll rises to 11 in suicide attack outside Pakistani court

At least 11 people were killed and another 12 were wounded Monday in a suicide attack at the entrance of a court in northern Pakistan’s Charsadda district, which was claimed by the Taliban, saying it was in retaliation for the execution of an Islamist, the police told EFE.

The suicide attacker started shooting indiscriminately and detonated the bombs on his person after he was intercepted by security officers while trying to enter the court in Shabqadar early Monday, said police spokesperson Sohail Khaild.

Eight people died at the incident spot, while three others succumbed to their injuries at a nearby hospital, said Shafqat Ullah of the district’s police control center.

Three policemen are among the dead.

Jamaat ul Ahrar, an offshoot of the country’s main Taliban group, TehrikeTaliban Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was to retaliate the execution last week of Mumtaz Qadri, sentenced for murdering a Pakistani politician for his opposition to the antiblasphemy law in 2011.

“The Pakistani courts are our target because their verdicts are against the law of God. This attack was carried out to avenge the execution of Mumtaz Qadri,” said the insurgent group’s spokesperson Ehsanullah Ehsan in a statement.

Qadri’s funeral on Friday was attended by thousands of people who considered him a hero for killing thenGovernor of Punjab, Salman Taseer, to whom he served as a bodyguard.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, in a statement, condemned the attack and expressed condolences to the families of the victims.

In January, Charsadda district, in the tribal Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, witnessed a brutal insurgent attack on the Bacha Khan University in which 25 people were killed.

However, the number of insurgent attacks has considerably decreased since the army launched an ongoing operation in the tribal regions of North Waziristan and Khyber, in which 3,500 insurgents have been killed till now, according to the army.