Three ‘facilitators’ of Charsadda courthouse attack arrested

K-P sends body parts of suicide bombers to Lahore for identification

TANGI: In a major breakthrough, security forces claimed on Wednesday to have arrested three facilitators of suicide bombers who tried to storm the tehsil courts and secretariat in the Tangi area of Charsadda.

Seven people were killed and 22 others injured in a clash between police and the bombers on Tuesday that was claimed by the outlawed Jamaatul Ahrar, a breakaway faction of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.

There was a 20-minute firefight at the gates to the courthouse complex in which the suicide bombers reportedly threw hand grenades and opened fire as they tried to enter the court premises.

They were kept back by police guards on duty and were eventually killed -- two by their explosives belts, and the third by police.

The facilitators have been arrested from an adjacent area of the Tangi tehsil and shifted to some undisclosed location for interrogation.

A police source, while confirming the arrests, told The Express Tribune: “The bombers stayed in the locality for over three days and were hosted by the three suspects.”



Meanwhile, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa home department and police have sent body parts of the suicide bombers for identification to Lahore, a senior police officer told The Express Tribune.

Also, the district education officer has declared holiday in all educational institutions in the tehsil, while lawyers have announced 10 days of mourning over the attack on the legal fraternity.

Pakistan has been hit by a wave of suicide bomb attacks claimed by various militant groups in recent days.

In response, the government launched a security crackdown -- which included closing border crossings with Afghanistan -- and claims it killed 100 militants.