Terror in court

Suicide bombers kill seven in attack on court complex in Pakistan.

PESHAWAR (Pakistan): Suicide bombers attacked a court complex in Pakistan, killing seven people and wounding 20, police officials said, the latest incident in a new surge of militants violence.

All three of the attackers were carrying hand grenades and AK-47 assault rifles, said Ijaz Khan, police chief in the northwestern district of Charsadda.

One attacker blew himself up outside the court, while two were killed by policemen before they could enter the building.

“The terrorists had come and wanted to kill as many people as they could inside the judicial complex,” Khan said. “Seven people were killed in the attack.”

Besides lawyers and judges, hundreds of litigants visit the building every day.

A spokesman for Jamaat-urAhrar, a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement emailed to media.

Last week, the militant faction released a video announcing a new campaign of attacks against the government, including the judiciary, police and the army.

A series of bombings last week, in which more than 100 people were killed, has shattered a nascent sense that the worst of the country’s militant violence might be in the past.

The deadliest of last week’s attacks was on a famous Sufi Muslim shrine in the southern province of Sindh and was claimed by the Islamic State, which has a small but prominent presence in Pakistan.

Fighters loyal to IS are known to be operating under different names in Pakistan.

Most of the other recent attacks have been claimed by factions of the Pakistani Taliban, which is waging its own fight against the government.

A witness, Mohammad Shah Baz Khan, who was inside the court complex when the attack unfolded, described scenes of panic, saying several people scaled the walls of the building to escape.

“Lawyers and other people in the complex started running to save their lives. There was panic and nobody knew where to go,” said Shah Baz.

Television footage showed wounded people being taken to hospital.

Provincial health officials said the critically wounded would be treated at a major hospital in Peshawar.

The emergence of militants resurgence would be a major blow to Pakistan, which had enjoyed a dramatic improvement in security over the past two years after a military-led crackdown begun in 2014.