More Than 20 Killed In Bombings In India And Pakistan, Fragile Ceasefire Threatened

At least 15 people were killed and dozens more were wounded in two separate suicide bombings in Pakistan on Monday and Tuesday, and eight people were killed in a car explosion in India.

The latest bombing targeted a district court building in Islamabad, killing 12 people and wounding 27 more on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Authorities said that the attacker attempted to enter the court building but was unsuccessful and then targeted a police car. All of those killed in the attack were civilians, while four police officers were also wounded, according to The Washington Post.

The bombing in Islamabad came just hours after a suicide bomber targeted a military school in Pakistan’s northwest territory. Three people were killed in that bombing, and militants stormed the school, where at least three of them remain holed up.

While no terror group has claimed responsibility for either of the attacks, the Pakistani government suspects that terrorists backed by India and the Taliban in Afghanistan carried out the deadly bombings. Pakistani officials believe that the Pakistani Taliban, which the government suspects of being supported by India and Afghanistan, planned the bombing in Islamabad.

“The attack on Pakistani citizens by Indian proxy terrorist groups is condemnable,” said Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

The attack in Islamabad came just hours after a car exploded in India’s capital, New Delhi, killing eight people and wounding 20 more. Indian officials said they were still trying to determine whether the blast was from an issue with the vehicle or was a targeted attack, The Wall Street Journal reported. Authorities are investigating the car explosion under an anti-terrorism law, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi believes that the explosion in New Delhi was an attack on his country.

“The conspirators behind this will not be spared,” Modi said. “All those responsible will be brought to justice.”

The bombings in Pakistan and India threaten to reignite tensions between the two countries, months after they exchanged missile attacks and bombings and engaged in border skirmishes. In April, India launched airstrikes at targets in Pakistan, saying that it was hitting Pakistan-backed terrorist militia infrastructure after terrorists killed 26 people in Indian territory. The Pakistani government, however, accused India of killing civilians in the strikes and targeting mosques. Pakistan responded with its own mortar attack on India.

The Trump administration quickly got involved in ceasefire negotiations between the two countries in May, and India and Pakistan agreed to stop fighting after weeks of retaliatory attacks. The fighting between India and Pakistan was especially concerning for the Trump administration, as the two countries are also considerable nuclear powers.

President Donald Trump said that his trade policies helped end the conflict between the two countries and prevent a “potential nuclear disaster.”

“I called them up and I said, ‘You go to war and we’re not doing a trade deal.’ … And 24 hours later, they called me [and said], ‘We have decided not to do it.’ We stopped the war. We stopped the potential nuclear disaster because of trade,” the president said last month.