Suicide bombers who attacked Pakistan were Afghan nationals: minister

Afghan nationals carried out two suicide bombings in Pakistan this week, including one in the capital Islamabad, Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said on Thursday.

Both the bombers involved in the attacks have been identified as Afghans, he told parliament in a session carried live on television.

There was no immediate response from Kabul.

Naqvi’s comments came after a suicide bomber blew himself up close to a police patrol outside a lower court in Islamabad on Tuesday, killing 12 people and wounding 27.

The Pakistani Taliban terrorist group, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed the attack, saying in a statement they had targeted judicial officials.

Another bomber had rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the main gate of a military school in South Waziristan district, near the Afghan border, on Monday, killing three people.

Terrorists then entered the school, which is run by the military but educates civilians, triggering a fight with Pakistani soldiers that continued for more than 24 hours until all of the attackers were killed.

Pakistan’s military said the attack was carried out by terrorists affiliated with Fitna al Khawarij — a term used by Islamabad to refer to the TTP — with support from "their masters and handlers in Afghanistan".

Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been strained in recent years, with Islamabad accusing terrorists sheltering across the border of staging attacks inside Pakistan.

Kabul denies giving safe haven to terrorists to attack Pakistan.

Dozens of soldiers were killed in border clashes between the two countries last month.