Twelve people were killed and 27 others were injured in a suicide bombing in front of a court building in a residential area of Islamabad, Pakistan's interior minister said.
"At 12:39 p.m. (07:39), a suicide attack took place in Keshahri," the court building, where the court is located, and said, "So far, 12 people have been killed and about 27 injured."
"We are trying to determine the identity of (the attacker) and the place from which he came," Naqvi added, adding that "the attacker waited outside the court compound for some time before detonating his explosive device near a police car."
Witnesses described scenes of panic after the explosion, which damaged a number of vehicles and caused people to flee.
Lawyer Rustam Malik said after the blast: "When I stopped my car and entered the compound ... I heard an explosion at the gate."
One witness said that "there was complete chaos. Lawyers and people rushed into the compound. I saw two bodies at the gate and several cars were burning."