42 threat alerts given before Pakistan court attack

Pakistan's Interior Secretary Shahid Khan has said 42 threat alerts and 22 reports about a possible terror attack were communicated to the administration and police before a judge was killed in Monday's strike at a court here.

The secretary Tuesday told this to the Supreme Court of Pakistan, which has suo motu taken up the hearing on the attack on the Islamabad district court.

"The ministry of interior conveyed 42 threat alerts and 22 information reports to the chief commissioner of Islamabad and inspector general of police from Jan 1 to date," the daily Dawn reported Wednesday, citing the secretary's report in reply to Supreme Court Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani's query.

The attack has left a judge and 10 people dead and dozens injured.

"The incident, despite prior terrorism alerts, raises a big question mark on the ability of the administration as well as police to protect the capital in such eventualities," a member of the legal fraternity said in the court.

On Tuesday, lawyers of the Pakistan Bar Council, Supreme Court Bar Association, and District Bar Associations of Islamabad and Rawalpindi informed a three-judge Supreme Court bench that 11 bombers entered the court complex Monday. Of them, two blew themselves up when cornered, but the rest of them managed to escape from the police.

Naseer Kiani, president of the Islamabad District Bar Association, told the court that the response of police was very lukewarm and they were reluctant to fire upon terrorists.

The interior secretary said that all the terrorists walked through the three gates and the CCTV cameras inside the court premises were not functioning.