GUNMEN have burst into a court in a busy shopping area in the heart of Pakistan's capital and killed at least 11 people, including a judge.
Yesterday's suicide bomb and gun attack is likely to shatter any prospect of meaningful peace talks with Taliban insurgents in the country.
The Pakistani Taliban, who have declared a month-long ceasefire to pursue peace talks with the government, immediately distanced themselves from the attack as well as a separate blast on the Afghan border which killed two soldiers.
An explosion reverberated in central Islamabad, followed by bursts of gunfire. Police said at least 30 people were wounded.
Faisal Ali, a businessman who witnessed the attack, said: "There was a blast, then there was a lot of gunfire. Gunmen were spraying bullets at everyone."
Even as the Taliban declared willingness to talk peace, almost daily attacks have continued around Pakistan in past weeks, suggesting that the central Taliban leadership is not entirely in control of its operations.
A Taliban spokesman said: "We have already declared a ceasefire for a month and we stand by our promise."
The judge, Rafaqat Awan, was killed on the spot. He had rejected a petition last year to file a murder case against former President Perzez Musharraf over his order to storm a hardline mosque in Islamabad in 2007.
Many radical Islamists hold a grudge against Mr Musharraf over the storming, in which more than 100 people were killed, and any official seen as obstructing their fight for justice is likely to be on their hit list.
During yesterday's attack, two suicide bombers blew themselves up outside the courtroom where a hearing had just started.
Two other attackers were killed in the ensuing gun fight with police. Police said gunmen fired at random targets after the initial explosion.
Shortly afterwards, police blocked entry and exit points to the area, a maze of narrow streets lined with shops and offices.
Commandos knocked on doors and secured street corners as they combed the area for more militants.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article