ICC Note:

At least 17 people were killed in a suicide bombing of a courthouse in Charsadda, Pakistan. The Pakistani Taliban took responsibility for the attack calling it retaliation for the recent execution of Mumtaz Qadri. Qadri, who was executed on February 29, was the self confessed killer of Salman Taseer, the then governor of Punjab. According to Qadri, he killed Taseer in 2010 because of his public defense of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman currently on death row for allegedly committing blasphemy. Many Christians in Pakistan fear that the ire of the country’s radical groups will turn against them as their community is often scapegoated by radicals. 

3/8/2016 Pakistan (CNN) – At least 17 people, including two police officers and two children, were killed in a suicide attack Monday in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, police said.

At least 31 other people were injured in the attack in Charsadda district, said district police Chief Sohail Khalid, adding that five women, four children and five police officials are among the injured.

A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was in retaliation for the execution of Mumtaz Qadri on February 29.

Qadri was convicted of killing the governor of Punjab province in 2011.

The bombing incident began about noon local time, when the attacker opened fire outside the gates of the Charsadda court, Khalid said. When security officers tried to stop him from getting inside, the gunman detonated explosives that were strapped to his body.

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