Breakthrough? Police arrest two over Easter bombing

Police arrested the suspects in a raid conducted on a hideout on a tip-off

LAHORE: The Punjab police’s Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) claimed on Friday to have arrested two suspected terrorists involved in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park suicide blast, which killed 75 people on March 27 last year. Jamaatul Ahrar had claimed responsibility for the attack. A CTD spokesperson said police arrested the suspects, identified as Shahidullah and Khanzeb from Mohmand Agency, in a raid conducted on a hideout on a tip-off. He said the men conducted reconnaissance and brought the suspected suicide bomber, named Nasir, to the park on the day of the attack. The bomber used a veil to gain entry to the park. A man named Muhammad Khan was the local coordinator and the mastermind of the attack while two more suspects, Shaukat and Tawakkal Jan, provided the suicide jacket. Nasir stayed at the house of Hukam Khan in Lahore for two days. All members of this terrorist cell were based in Barkat Town and Shahdara on temporary basis, the police claimed.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 7^th, 2017.