No major headway: Police search for clues at Bedian blast site

Several people rounded up but no major arrest made

LAHORE: Teams of the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) and other law enforcement agencies continued collecting forensic evidence from the site of Wednesday’s suicide blast on Bedian Road without making any major headways.

No major arrests have been made or any facilitator or the handler of the suicide bomber, who blew himself and killed seven people, been identified.

On Thursday, investigators reconstructed the crime scene and collected forensic evidence. Two fingers, suspected to be of the bomber, were also found at the scene. Samples and other forensic evidence were sent to the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) and Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA) for identification.

The investigators also recorded statements of eyewitnesses. The owner of a shop, near which the van carrying army personnel was parked, was also questioned. The van driver was interrogated as well.

He told police that he had gone to a nearby shop to buy spare parts when the bomb exploded.

Investigative agencies are conducting geo-fencing of the area and have shortlisted suspicious numbers in use at the time of the blast. The investigators have collected CCTV footages from nearby buildings, but nothing substantial emerged from its analysis.

Few buildings and shops had CCTV cameras in the first place as the surroundings were mainly not-so-developed.  Two sets of CCTV recordings were found from shops situated between 100 and 200 metres from the blast site but did not prove fruitful, officials said.

A theory suggested the Elite Police Training School or a nearby CTD station was the actual target of the bomber, but he detonated his explosives when seeing the van carrying army personnel.

Meanwhile, bodies of the deceased have been handed over to their families for burial. Funeral prayers of four army soldiers were offered at Ayub Stadium. Riaz Hussain, one of the soldiers, was buried in his native village of Faisalabad. The funeral prayers of Awais Zaffar and Muhamamd Boota were also offered in their villages.

DIG Operations Dr Haider Ashraf has put law enforcers on high alert across the metropolis after the attack. He ordered increased patrolling and snap-checking, while police conducted search operations in nearby areas. Several people were taken into custody.

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