Afghan nationals behind recent suicide attacks in Pakistan: interior minister

ISLAMABAD: Afghan nationals carried out two recent suicide bombings in Pakistan, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said Thursday, as authorities investigate cross-border militant operations.

The attacks killed multiple people at an Islamabad court complex on Tuesday and a military cadet college in South Waziristan on Monday.

"It has been confirmed that both nationals came from Afghanistan and carried out these suicide attacks," the minister told reporters. "We are investigating the matter."

Pakistani security sources said Thursday that Noor Wali Mehsud, leader of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant group, ordered the cadet college attack from Afghanistan. 

Speaking to a private news channel on Wednesday regarding the suicide attack in Islamabad, Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry stated that the suicide bomber was not a Pakistani, nor did he know the language or currency of Pakistan.

“We have all the evidence available with us, on the basis of which we named India and Afghanistan as being behind this attack,” he added.

He also stated that the suicide bomber had rented a motorcycle and a car upon entering Islamabad for the attack. 

The attackers used American-made weapons supplied from Afghanistan and received operational instructions throughout the assault, according to the sources. They identified the plot's organizer as “Zahid.”

While Jaish-ul-Hind claimed responsibility for the cadet college attack, security sources revealed the claim was made on Mehsud's orders to obscure the TTP’s involvement amid mounting international pressure on the Afghan Taliban to curb militant activities.

The sources said the attack aimed to destabilize Pakistan at the behest of India's Research and Analysis Wing intelligence agency.

Pakistan has consistently raised the issue of Afghanistan's Taliban regime harboring militants who launch attacks across the border.

Pakistani authorities said counterterrorism operations will continue under the government's National Action Plan and Azm-e-Istehkam security initiatives.

The Pakistani Taliban is separate from but allied with Afghanistan's Taliban regime. The group has escalated attacks since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in 2021.