TTP behind the attack: DPO

BATTAGRAM:

Battagram District Police Officer Ghulam Hussain has said that the body parts of the suicide attacker have been sent to a laboratory to help determine his identity.

However he believed that the attacker was a member of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), revealing that the attack bore stark similarities to the way the terrorist outfit’s past attacks.

“A similar attack was carried out by the TTP in Hayatabad in 2007, while I was SSP Peshawar and the man was later identified as a resident of Miranshah,” he told The Express Tribune here on Tuesday.

No group has claimed responsibility for Monday’s suicide blast so far.

Hussain said that a DNA test of the attacker would help investigators determine his race; whether he was Uzbak, Afghan, Swati or from Fata. “Once the race is confirmed, finding out who planted him will become much easier,” the DPO said. However, he maintained confidence in his instincts, noting that Amir Muqam is also believed to be on the TTP’s hit-list for the last several months and has survived several earlier attacks.

Hussain denied that Battagram was housing insurgents, adding that the attackers who had struck twice in the district earlier were not locals and snuck into the district from other areas. He also dispelled with the notion that any antiterrorist operation was required in Battagram.

About rounding up suspects with links to Monday’s suicide attack, the DPO said that preliminary information was being gathered with the cooperation of intelligence agencies for action against the exact targets.

Commenting on Amir Mukam’s statement regarding security arrangements, he said that it was foolproof, which is clear from the fact that the attacker could not breach the outer ring and casualties were “low”. He told that there were four security cordons around the venue of the public meeting; the outermost cordon which was attacked, the outer security cordon, the rooftop cordon and the inner-security cordon in place.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 13^th, 2011.