UPDATE 3 - Suicide attacker kills 12, injures 27 others outside Islamabad court: Interior minister

UPDATES WITH PAKISTAN PRIME MINISTER'S STATEMENT, ADDS SECOND AND THIRD DECK, CHANGES HEADLINE

By Islamuddin Sajid and Aamir Latif

ISLAMABAD/KARACHI (AA) - At least 12 people were killed and 27 others injured in a suicide attack outside a court complex in the capital Islamabad on Thursday, Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi confirmed.

The blast occurred in the parking area of the Judicial Complex.

“The suicide bomber targeted a police vehicle as he couldn't enter the complex,” Naqvi told reporters at the blast site. Efforts are underway to identify the attacker, he added.

Security sources told Anadolu that the bodies of the 12 victims, most of them civilians, were taken to a local hospital, and others were transferred for emergency treatment.

Police and emergency teams cordoned off the area and launched an investigation.

- President, premier condemn attacks

President Asif Zardari condemned the attack, saying "foreign-sponsored" terrorists operating in Pakistan must be eliminated.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also condemned the attack and accused India for "spreading terrorism in the region through its proxies."

"The time has come for the world to condemn such nefarious conspiracies of India," said Sharif, claiming the attacks were "carried out from Afghan soil with Indian backing."

There was no immediate reaction from New Delhi or Kabul to the statement by Sharif.

India has, however, denied such accusations in the past.

Separately, security forces were engaged in an operation against three militants hiding inside a building at Wana Cadet College in northwestern Pakistan, security sources said.

About 500 cadets are housed in a hostel on the campus, located away from the building where the militants are holed up in South Waziristan, according to the sources.

Naqvi said three people had been killed in the operation so far.