DG Khan attack: Alleged mastermind caught in Bajaur

Security forces arrest Behram Khan during a raid in the Mamoond Tehsil of Bajaur Agency.

PESHAWAR:

Behram Khan, the alleged mastermind behind the suicide attacks in DG Khan that killed at least 50 people at the Sakhi Sarwar shrine, was apprehended by security forces in a raid carried out in Mamoond Tehsil of the Bajaur tribal district, said Assistant Political Agent (APA) Jamil Khan.

The raid took place in the village of Garegaal in Mamoond Tehsil of Bajaur Agency. Sources said that another militant residing in a house nearby opened fire on security personnel. The exchange of fire lasted for about two hours after which Abdur Raheem Alias Usama, identified as a local militant commander, was shot dead.

According to the Political Tehsildar, the body of the slain militant commander has been taken into custody and four more suspects – Saeed Ahmed, Niaz Muhammad, Syed Rehman and Habibullah – have been apprehended from the vicinity. Hand grenades, dynamite and arms were also recovered from them.

APA Jamil Khan, who accompanied the security officials during the operation, said: “Behram Khan was a renowned militant commander wanted by the political administration for his involvement in several terrorist plots.”

Behram went into hiding during the military onslaught in the Agency and since then has been running a network of suicide bombers in DG Khan. “He returned to his native village of Gareegal after planning the suicide attacks in DG Khan,” Khan added.

Sources confirmed that Behram was an active member of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. Previously, Ihsanullah Ehsan, a spokesperson for the TTP, had claimed responsibility of the attack terming it a ‘reaction the atrocities carried in the tribal belt’.

The Taliban follow a hard-line creed that condemns shrines of saints. In December, last year, a burqa-clad suicide bomber killed more than 47 people at a UN distribution point in Bajaur. Since then, a number of suspects have been rounded up in raids carried out by security personnel tracing the nexus of suicide bombers that are functional in the tribal district.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 11^th,  2011.