11 dead in Islamabad court suicide attack

ISLAMABAD, Mar 3 (AFP): Eleven people including a judge were killed Monday in a gun and suicide bomb attack on a court complex in Islamabad, a rare strike at the heart of the heavily-guarded Pakistani capital.
Pakistan has been in the grip of a bloody homegrown Taliban insurgency since 2007 but there have been very few attacks in recent years within the capital, which is home to government offices and foreign embassies.
The Pakistani Taliban denied any connection to the attack, which came two days after the militants announced a month-long ceasefire aimed at restarting stalled peace talks with the government.
More than 110 people have now been killed in militant attacks since Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced talks last month, leading some observers to question the worth of the process.
Monday's attack will fuel fears of a splintering of the Taliban movement, though the radical cleric leading the militants' talks team insisted the dialogue could still succeed.
Islamabad police chief Sikandar Hayat said the attack began around 9:00 am (0400 GMT) with gunfire followed by two suicide blasts, which killed 11 people and wounded 24.
It was the first suicide attack in Islamabad since June 2011 and the deadliest in the city since a huge truck bomb at the Marriott Hotel killed 60 people in September 2008.
Blood, human remains and spent bullet casings littered the court complex, located in the prosperous F-8 sector of the city, which is popular with foreigners, an AFP reporter said.
The death toll was confirmed by other police officials and the spokeswoman for the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Ayesha Isani.