Pakistani authorities on November 13 accused Afghan nationals of carrying out two suicide bombings, including one in Islamabad, that hit the South Asian country earlier this week, Cradle newspaper reported on Friday.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told the country’s parliament on Thursday that both bombers involved in the attack were identified as Afghan nationals.
The Taliban government in Kabul has not responded to the accusations.
On Tuesday, a suicide bomber targeted police on patrol in front of a court in Islamabad, killing 12 people and injuring 27 others.
The day before, another suicide bomber drove his car into the main gate of a military school in South Waziristan, killing three people.
The attack paved the way for heavily armed militants to enter the school, where they engaged in battles with Pakistani soldiers for more than 24 hours before being killed.
Approximately 500 civilian students and staff remained trapped in different parts of the complex during the fighting.
No group claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attack. Still, Islamabad said Kabul was harboring militants from the Pakistani Taliban in its territory and using them as proxies to carry out terrorist attacks in Pakistan.
Islamabad also accuses India of supporting militant groups.
The Pakistani Taliban, officially known as Tehreek Taliban Pakistan (TTP), denied involvement in the attack.
Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said after the attack: “We are at war.” “Bringing this war to Islamabad is a message from Kabul and Pakistan has every right to respond to it,” he said.
Tensions between Islamabad and Kabul have further escalated after talks between the two sides broke down earlier this week. The two countries began peace talks after 10 days of violent border clashes in early October.
Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan al-Muttaqi said the talks failed because Pakistan made “unreasonable” demands from Kabul to guarantee internal security in Pakistan.
He accused Islamabad of using trade and refugee issues as political tools while trying to link domestic turmoil to Afghanistan.
The talks, brokered by Turkey and Qatar in Istanbul, ended without an agreement as Pakistan pressured Kabul to rein in the TTP, but Afghan officials insist the issue is beyond their control.
Pakistan also waged a brief war with India in May after New Delhi launched airstrikes on Islamabad following a terrorist attack by unknown militants in the Pahalgam Valley region of Indian-occupied Kashmir that killed 26 Indian tourists.