Pakistan arrests 4 militants in connection to suicide bombing at Islamabad court

Pakistani authorities announced Friday the arrest of four suspected militants allegedly involved in Tuesday’s suicide bombing outside a district court in Islamabad that killed 12 people and wounded 28 others. Officials described the arrests as a significant breakthrough in the investigation of the deadly attack.

The suspects are believed to be members of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a militant group that operates separately from but maintains close ties with the Taliban government in Afghanistan. The Pakistani government revealed the arrests in a statement posted on social media platform X, noting that the operation was carried out jointly by the country’s Intelligence Bureau and Counter-Terrorism Department.

One of the detained suspects, identified as Sajid Ullah, allegedly handled the explosive device used in the attack. According to investigators, Ullah received orders to facilitate the bombing from Saeed-ur-Rehman, also known as Daadullah, a TTP commander who communicated through the encrypted messaging app Telegram.

Officials said Ullah’s role involved receiving the suicide bomber—reportedly an Afghan national from Nangarhar province—after he crossed the border into Pakistan. Ullah then arranged accommodation for the attacker near Islamabad and later retrieved an explosive suicide vest from a graveyard in Peshawar before transporting it to the capital.

The government statement identified Daadullah as a member of TTP’s intelligence wing who originates from Pakistan’s Bajaur region but is currently believed to be hiding in Afghanistan.

The arrests came just one day after Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi publicly claimed that Afghan nationals had carried out both Tuesday’s bombing in Islamabad and Monday’s attack on a cadet college in Wana, a northwestern city where gunmen initiated a nearly 20-hour gun battle that left three soldiers dead.

These attacks highlight Pakistan’s rapidly deteriorating security situation, which has been marked by a resurgence in militant activity and increasingly strained relations with Afghanistan’s Taliban government. The bombing in Islamabad is particularly alarming as the capital has generally been considered safer than the country’s volatile northwestern regions.

The TTP has not commented on the arrests. The development comes shortly after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif extended an offer to engage in peace talks with Afghanistan’s Taliban-led government while urging Kabul to control TTP activities within its borders.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi on Friday expressed Pakistan’s gratitude to Qatar and Turkey for facilitating talks with Afghanistan and reaffirmed Islamabad’s commitment to resolving issues through dialogue. “Pakistan has never eschewed dialogue with any government in Kabul,” Andrabi stated, noting that when the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, Pakistan expected the new regime would eventually control cross-border militant attacks.

“During these years, Pakistan also tried to positively engage with the Afghan Taliban regime, offering bilateral trade assistance, bilateral trade concessions and humanitarian assistance,” he said. However, Andrabi criticized Afghanistan’s response as consisting only of “hollow promises and inaction.”

The spokesperson also accused Kabul of attempting to portray militants hiding in Afghanistan as refugees. “This is not a humanitarian or refugee crisis but a ploy to frame terrorists as refugees,” he asserted, adding that certain elements within the Afghan Taliban “have been tasked to stoke tension” with Pakistan.

Andrabi claimed these factions have “engaged in abuses and outrageous allegations against Pakistan and, in doing so, they are fast eroding whatever goodwill they had within Pakistan.”

The incidents come amid a fragile cross-border ceasefire and underscore the complex regional dynamics that continue to challenge Pakistan’s security framework as it grapples with militant threats emanating from neighboring Afghanistan.