Tensions have escalated in Pakistan after a suicide bomber killed 12 people and injured dozens by blowing himself up in the capital, making it the first strike against civilians in the area in more than a decade.

The attack outside a lower court in Islamabad on Tuesday afternoon, which wounded at least 27 people on top of the dozen murdered, came when the area is typically crowded with visitors, the Associated Press notes. 

There are conflicting reports on whether Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter terrorist group that broke away from the Pakistani Taliban, has claimed responsibility for the attack, as reporters claim to have gotten messages from the group's leader claiming responsibility. However, a commander within the group stated in WhatsApp messages that the group wasn't responsible. 

The attack also comes amid Pakistan's ongoing tensions in both Afghanistan and India. While Pakistani government ministers accused Afghanistan of complicity in the attack, Kabul denied the accusation. 

"We are in a state of war," Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said in a statement after the attack. "Bringing this war to Islamabad is a message from Kabul, to which Pakistan has the full power to respond."

Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi claimed, when speaking with journalists, that the attack was "carried out by Indian-backed elements and Afghan Taliban proxies" with ties to the Pakistani Taliban. 

Naqvi did not cite evidence for this claim, but the interior minister promised that authorities are "looking into all aspects" of the explosion, the AP reports. 

Asif said in an interview with Geo News that attacks on "terrorist sanctuaries" in Afghanistan would "not be ruled out" after Tuesday's attack, reports the Pakistani English-language newspaper Dawn. 

Naqvi also provided more details about the suicide bombing attack to reporters, saying that the bomber targeted a police vehicle after failing to enter the court premises. Pakistani state-run media and several security officials initially reported that the explosion was caused by a car bomb, but Naqvi said the police's discovery of the attacker's severed head near the site of the blast confirmed that it was a suicide bombing. 

Islamabad police reported that most of the casualties were passersby or people appearing for court, and police blocked off the area after the blast went off, according to AP. 

Despite ongoing peace talks, Pakistan's tensions with neighboring Afghanistan have consisted of Afghan and Pakistani troops exchanging fire along their shared border. 

On Nov. 6, there was an exchange of fire in Spin Boldak between Taliban soldiers and Pakistani forces that reportedly led to the death of at least five civilians, including four women. Six others were wounded, reports Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Peace talks broke down on Saturday, with both sides blaming each other for the negotiations ending without a deal.

Before the suicide bombing on Tuesday, Pakistani security forces announced that they had defended a cadet college in Wana after a suicide bomber and five other attackers targeted the facility, as the AP reported on Monday. 

The military said that it had killed the attackers and that it held the Pakistani Taliban responsible. Pakistan also alleges that the Pakistani Taliban is backed by India and has handlers in Afghanistan.

"Pakistan reserves the right to respond against terrorists and their leadership present in Afghanistan," the military said in a statement. 

India denies that it backs the Pakistani Taliban, which also denied responsibility for the attack on the cadet college. The Pakistani Taliban is allied with the Afghan Taliban and has been "emboldened" to "increase domestic terrorist acts in Pakistan" by the Afghan Taliban's return to power in 2021, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. 

Following the suicide bombing in Islamabad and the attack in Wana, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed that the perpetrators would be "apprehended and held accountable." Sharif also condemned the killing of unarmed civilians, denouncing the act as "reprehensible." 

"We will not allow the blood of innocent Pakistanis to go to waste," the Pakistani prime minister said.