Faisalabad suicide attack: Four militants of TTP-allied group arrested

Law-enforcement agencies arrest four suspected militants from a group allied with TTP.

LAHORE:

The law-enforcement agencies have arrested four suspected militants from a group allied with the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in connection with a suicide attack on the office of the country’s premier spy agency in Faisalabad earlier this month.

Sources told The Express Tribune that the militants belong to the al Khalid group, a wing of the TTP-allied al Furqan group. Two of the suspects – Usman Ghanni alias Abu Hamza and Khalid – had prepared the explosive-laden vehicle for the strike on the ISI office.

The law enforcement agencies are now hunting down two more members of the network, the sources added. Initial interrogation revealed that the attack was masterminded by six men of al Furqan, a splinter group of the Lashar-e-Jhangvi, which is now working under the TTP command.

During interrogation it transpired that two militants, hailing from Peshawar and Waziristan, had travelled to Malho More in Jhang district in a car to be used in the suicide attack.

They were received by Usman Ghani, Qari Imran, Qari Sadiq and Abdul Rehman alias Kaka. One of the handlers returned home after delivering the car packed with explosives, while the second, identified as Asif, stayed somewhere in Khanewal district.

Usman Ghani, a resident of Kabeerwala and Abdul Rehman, a Faisalabad resident, told interrogators that they had reached a bus terminal in Faisalabad on the morning of the attack where Qari Imran had briefed them on the mission. Ghani and Rehman guided Asif, who was driving the car packed with explosives.

Asif had to park the car at a CNG station near the ISI office due to strict security. Ghani, who was chasing the car on a bicycle, detonated the remote-controlled device fitted in the vehicle, assuming that Asif had reached his target.

Ghani and Rehman tried to escape from the scene on the bicycle,  but Ghani was arrested from the spot by a traffic warden with the help of residents, and the remote control device was recovered from his possession. Rehman managed to escape from the scene only to be arrested later. They told investigators that they were targeting security forces and intelligence agencies for their support to the Americans.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 24^th, 2011.