Explosion kills at least 12 outside court in Islamabad

An explosion has killed at least 12 people and wounded 27 outside a court building in Pakistan's capital Islamabad on Tuesday, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said.

The court bomber hit near the entrance of one of the lower courts in Islamabad at around lunch time, when the area is typically crowded.

Naqvi said the bomber had tried to enter the court building on foot but detonated the device outside, close to a police vehicle, after waiting there for 10 to 15 minutes.

"We are investigating this incident from different angles. It is not just another bombing. It happened right in Islamabad," the minister said. "Whoever is involved, local people or from other countries, they wouldn't be spared."

Several of the wounded were in critical condition, a hospital source said.

Separately, a bomber killed three people when he detonated his car at the entrance of a military school in the northwestern district of South Waziristan near the Afghan border on Monday evening, Naqvi said.

Militants then entered the school. By Tuesday afternoon, three fighters were still holed up inside the school compound, where more than 500 students and staff were present, security officials said.

No group had so far claimed responsibility for either of the attacks.