Suicide bomber kills 12 outside Islamabad court as Pakistan violence rises

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A suicide bomber struck outside a court in Pakistan's capital Tuesday, detonating his explosives next to a police car and killing 12 people in the latest of an uptick in violence across the country.

Witnesses described mayhem. The blast, which also wounded 27 people, was heard for miles and came at a time of day when the area outside the district court in Islamabad is typically crowded with hundreds of visitors.

A breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban, the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar group, claimed responsibility for the attack, in messages to reporters from the group's leader, Omar Mukkaram Khurasani. However, an influential commander within the group, Sarbakaf Mohmand, also sent messages disavowing any claim to the attack.

The group quit the Pakistani Taliban, or TTP, after the head of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar was killed in a blast in Afghanistan in 2022. Though some members recently rejoined the TTP, others keep their distance, indicating continuing differences among the insurgents.

The TPP is separate from, but allied with, the Afghan Taliban that leads the neighboring country.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar has staged smaller attacks in the past but its ability to hit the Pakistani capital is likely to further compound the struggles of the Pakistani government as it faces a resurgent Pakistani Taliban, border tensions and a fragile ceasefire with Afghanistan.

Without giving evidence, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi alleged the attack was “carried out by Indian-backed elements and Afghan Taliban proxies” linked to the Pakistani Taliban. Still, he said authorities are “looking into all aspects” of the explosion.

New Delhi rejected the allegation as baseless. “The international community is well aware of the reality and will not be misled by Pakistan’s desperate diversionary ploys," Randhir Jaswal, the spokesperson at the Ministry of External Affairs, said in a statement.

The attack drew condemnation, including from the United States, China, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a full investigation and reiterated that “all perpetrators of terrorism must be held accountable,” U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.

The attacker tried to “enter the court premises but, failing to do so, targeted a police vehicle,” Naqvi told journalists. State-run media and two security officials earlier said a car bomb caused the explosion.

The casualties were mostly passersby or those who had arrived for court appointments, according to Islamabad police.

More than a dozen wounded people screamed for help as ambulances rushed to the scene. “People started running in all directions,” Mohammad Afzal, who was at the court at the time, told The Associated Press.

Naqvi said the bomber was not included in the death toll of 12. Police said a severed head was identified as the attacker's, which Naqvi said confirmed the blast was a suicide attack. The attacker also was seen in security footage, he said.

Earlier, Pakistani security forces said they foiled an attempt by militants to take cadets hostage at an army-run college, when a suicide car bomber and five other attackers targeted the facility in a northwestern province.

The authorities blamed TTP. The TTP denied involvement in Monday's attack at the college, and spokesman Mohammad Khurasani also denied involvement in Tuesday's attack.

The school targeted is in Wana, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the Afghan border. The area had until recent years been a base for the Pakistani Taliban, al-Qaida and other foreign militants.

According to the local police chief, Alamgir Mahsud, two of the militants were quickly killed by troops while three others managed to enter the compound before being cornered in an administrative block. He said the clearance operation was still underway Tuesday, some 20 hours after the attack.

The block is away from the building housing hundreds of cadets and other staff, who were quickly evacuated to safer places by Pakistani commandos.

There were no immediate reports of casualties among the students or staff. The army has not provided any information about military casualties.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif denounced the two attacks and called for a full investigation. “We will ensure the perpetrators are apprehended and held accountable,” he said in a statement.

Sharif described attacks on unarmed civilians as “reprehensible” and added: “We will not allow the blood of innocent Pakistanis to go to waste.”

Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif said on X that the country is in a state of war and laid the blame with the Taliban government in Afghanistan, which Islamabad accuses of sheltering the TTP.

Afghanistan "can act to stop terrorism in Pakistan, but bringing this war to Islamabad is a message from Kabul,” Asif said and warned that Pakistan “has the strength to respond fully.”

Pakistan has outlawed the TTP, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, and the United States and the United Nations have designated the group a terrorist organization. The Afghan Taliban takeover in Kabul in 2021 emboldened the TTP, and many of its leaders and fighters are believed to have taken refuge in Afghanistan. Kabul denies it's protecting the TTP.

Militant attacks in Pakistan have surged in recent years. The deadliest assault on a school occurred in 2014, when a breakaway TTP faction killed 154 people, mostly children, at an army-run school in Peshawar. The military claimed the attackers in Wana wanted to repeat the assault.

Tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have risen in recent months. Kabul has blamed Islamabad for drone strikes on Oct. 9 that killed several people in the Afghan capital. Ensuing cross-border fighting killed dozens of soldiers, civilians and militants before Qatar brokered a ceasefire on Oct. 19, which remains in place.

Since then, two rounds of peace talks have been held in Istanbul but ended without agreement after Kabul refused to provide a written assurance that the TTP and other militant groups would not use Afghan territory against Pakistan.

An earlier, brief ceasefire between Pakistan and the TTP, brokered by Kabul in 2022, collapsed after the group accused Islamabad of violating it.

Mahsud reported from Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan. Associated Press writers Riaz Khan and Rasool Dawar in Peshawar, Pakistan, and Sheikh Saaliq in New Delhi contributed to this report.

Security officials examine a damaged vehicle at the site following a suicide bombing outside the gates of a district court, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohammad Yousuf)

Pakistan's police officers and lawyers gather at the site following a suicide bombing outside the gates of a district court, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/W.K. Yousufzai)

Pakistani investigators examine a damaged car at the site of a suicide bombing outside the gates of a district court, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahsan Shahzad)

Security officials and rescue workers gather at the site following a suicide bombing outside the gates of a district court, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohammad Yousuf)

Pakistani investigators examine a damage car at the site of a suicide bombing outside the gates of a district court, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahsan Shahzad)

Pakistani security officials stand guard after a powerful car bomb exploded outside a district court in Islamabad, Pakistan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohammad Yousuf)

Pakistani security officials stand guard after a powerful car bomb exploded outside a district court in Islamabad, Pakistan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohammad Yousuf)

Pakistani security officials stand guard after a powerful car bomb exploded outside a district court in Islamabad, Pakistan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohammad Yousuf)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump will use Tuesday’s State of the Union to champion his immigration crackdowns, his slashing of the federal government, his push to preserve widespread tariffs that the Supreme Court just struck down and his ability to direct quick-hit military actions around the world, including in Iran and Venezuela.

The Republican hopes he can convince increasingly wary Americans that his policies have improved their lives while ensuring that the U.S. economy is stronger than many believe — and that they should vote for more of the same in November.

The balancing act of celebrating his whirlwind first year back in the White House while making a convincing case for his party in midterm races where he personally won't be on the ballot is a tall order for any president. But it could prove especially delicate for Trump, given how happy he is to veer off script and ignore carefully crafted messaging.

A main theme will be that the country is booming with a rise in domestic manufacturing and new jobs, despite many Americans not feeling that way. “It’s going to be a long speech because we have so much to talk about," said Trump, who promised a heavy dose of talk about the economy.

The president is also expected to decry the Supreme Court ruling against his signature tariff policies and talk about his attempts to maneuver around that decision without depending on Congress or spooking financial markets. He's also likely to urge lawmakers to increase military funding and tighten voter identification requirements, while defending immigration operations that have drawn bipartisan criticism following the shooting deaths of two American citizens.

Jeff Shesol, a former speechwriter for Democratic President Bill Clinton, said Trump has typically used State of the Union addresses to offer more conventional tones than his usual bombast — but he's still apt to exaggerate repeatedly.

“His job, for the sake of his party, is to show the silver lining,” Shesol said. “But if he’s going to insist that the silver lining is gold, no one’s buying it. And it will be a very difficult position on the campaign trail for Republicans to defend.”

Michael Waldman, Clinton's former chief speechwriter, said second-term presidents "have a tough job because what they all want to say is, ‘Hey, look what a great job I’ve been doing — why don’t you love me?’”

No matter what his prepared remarks say, Trump relishes deviating into personal grievances, meaning Tuesday will probably feature topics like denying that he lost the 2020 presidential election.

His lack of messaging discipline has been on display after concerns about high costs of living helped propel Democratic wins around the country on Election Day last November. The White House subsequently promised that the president would travel the country nearly every week to reassure Americans he was taking affordability seriously. But Trump has spent more time blaming Democrats and scoffing at the notion that kitchen-table issues demand attention.

Trump instead boasts of having tamed inflation and says he has the economy humming given that the Dow Jones Industrial Average recently exceeded 50,000 points for the first time.

Such gains don't feel tangible to those without stock portfolios, however. There also are persistent fears that tariffs stoked higher prices, which could eventually hurt the economy and job creation. Economic growth slowed the last three months of last year.

Waldman, now president of the Brennan Center for Justice, which advocates for democracy, civil liberties and fair elections, said previous presidents faced similar instances of “economic disquiet.”

That created a question of “how much do you sell vs. feeling the pain of the electorate,” he said.

Shesol noted that Trump has “always believed — going back to his real estate days — that he can sell anyone on anything.”

“He’s still doing that. But the problem is, you can’t tell somebody who has lost their job and can’t get a new one that things are going great,” Shesol said. “He can’t sell people on a reality that for them, and frankly for most Americans, does not exist.”

It is potentially politically perilous ahead of November elections that could deliver congressional wins to Democrats, just as 2018’s “blue wave” created a strong check to his administration during his first term.

Several Democrats in Congress, meanwhile, plan to skip Tuesday's speech in protest, instead attending a rally known as the “People's State of the Union” on Washington’s National Mall.

Trump's address comes as two U.S. aircraft carriers have been dispatched to the Middle East amid tensions with Iran.

The president will recount how U.S. airstrikes last summer pounded Tehran's nuclear capabilities, and laud the raid that ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Nicolás Maduro, as well as his administration's brokering of a ceasefire in Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza.

But he also strained U.S. military alliances with NATO, thanks to his push to seize Greenland from Denmark and his failure to take a harder line with Russian President Vladimir Putin in seeking an end to its war in Ukraine.

Making any foreign policy feel relevant to Americans back home is never easy.

Jennifer Anju Grossman, a former speechwriter for Republican President George H.W. Bush and current CEO of the Atlas Society, which promotes the ideas of author and philosopher Ayn Rand, said Trump can make clear that Maduro's socialist policies wrecked Venezuela's economy to the point where one of the world's richest oil countries struggled to meet its own energy needs.

Now, oil from that country will help lower American gas prices.

Still, when it comes to overseas developments, she said, “I think it’s going to be a bit of a challenge to make clear why this is relevant to the domestic situation.”

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump, walk out of the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, to travel to the U.S. Capitol where he will deliver the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

U.S. Men's National Ice Hockey Team gold medal winner, Jack Hughes, shows his medal as he walks through Statuary Hall to enter the House chamber before President Donald Trump arrives to deliver the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

Vice President JD Vance and House Speaker Mike Johnson of La., arrive before President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump, walk out of the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, to travel to the U.S. Capitol where he will deliver the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks with reporters at the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Shown is the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, ahead of President Donald Trump's State of the Union address Tuesday. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Shown is the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, ahead of President Donald Trump's State of the Union address Tuesday. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Shown is the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, ahead of President Donald Trump's State of the Union address Tuesday. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Shown is the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, ahead of President Donald Trump's State of the Union address Tuesday. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Shown is the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, ahead of President Donald Trump's State of the Union address Tuesday. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

The U .S. Capitol is seen after sunset in Washington, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026, ahead of President Donald Trump's State of the Union address. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)