Defence minister points finger at India and Afghanistan, says the state will respond to this “cruelty with full force”; govt to release report on attack in 72 hours; CM Maryam says Punjab govt has dispatched 25 ambulances to Islamabad.

The attack comes less than three months after a suicide blast outside a court in Islamabad and coincided with the ongoing state visit of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

Pakistani leaders Friday strongly condemned a suicide attack that ripped through a religious site in Islamabad and vowed to bring the "extremists to full account." The explosion hit an Imambargah, a Shia Muslim worship place in Islamabad's Shehzad Town area, killing at least 31 people and injuring 169 others.

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has announced she will not take part in any Basant-related activities scheduled for Saturday, citing the deadly

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif have condemned the attack. “Targeting innocent civilians is a crime against humanity…The nation stands with the affected families in this difficult time,

However, eyewitnesses have said that the terrorist was stopped at the main entrance of the religious site, which is when the terrorist start firing. “He then ran inside at least 20 metres, and as the prayer was underway, he blew himself up,” Geo News cited the eyewitnesses as saying.

An explosion was reported at an imambargah in Islamabad’s Tarlai area during Friday prayers on February 6, triggering an emergency response as police and