Alleged ‘facilitator of KU attack arrested’

Interior minister dashes to Karachi; receives briefing on investigation

KARACHI:

In a significant progress in the investigation into Tuesday’s suicide bombing in Karachi University, police arrested an alleged facilitator of the attack that killed three Chinese nationals and a Pakistani man, sources said on Wednesday.

The sources also said that the police interviewed over a dozen people, during raids in various areas of Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Safura Chowrangi, Gulshan-e-Hadid and Old City Area. The sources identified the arrested suspect as Bebgar Imdad, who was traced with the help of mobile phone link.

According to the sources, Bebgar Imdad, a student of the National University of Modern Languages (NUML), Islamabad, was arrested from a Punjab University (PU) hostel in the morning. They added that he was traced by investigators with the help of a mobile phone link.

Read more: China strongly condemns KU terror incident, demands thorough investigation

PU sources said that security personnel in civvies took Imdad, who belonged to Turbat, into custody from Hostel No 7, adding that the suspect had resisted his arrest. They added that Imdad was pursuing Master’s degree in English Literature and had come to Lahore a few days ago to spend his Eid holidays.
On Tuesday, a female suicide bomber struck outside the Chinese language centre inside the Karachi University, killing three Chinese nationals and a Pakistan man, and injuring four others, including a Chinese national and Rangers personnel.

The attack was claimed the banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which identified the suicide bomber as Shari Baloch, a resident of Turbat and the mother of two. The sources said that more information was being gathered about the social media account of Shari Hayat Baloch alias Barmash.

The sources said that the process of geo-fencing of the crime scene was also under way, while suspicious mobile phone numbers were being shortlisted. It was also stated that Shari Baloch had come to Karachi on March 20 and was living in Gulistan-e-Jauhar area.

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah visited Karachi on the directives of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and met with Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah. During the meeting, Rana offered federal government’s assistance to the provincial government in the investigation into the blast.

Also read: Sanaullah vows to arrest culprits responsible for KU bombing

They were informed that the intelligence officials had been obtaining the data of all students from the university, named Shari Baloch. So far, the data from the two departments, including the admissions, board of advance studies and research, enrolment and examinations had been acquired.

Sources told The Express Tribune that two students by the same name had enrolled in the university – one in 2012 in the BSC programme and the other in 2018 in connection with science studies. However, their fathers’ names were different.

Later, addressing a joint news conference with the Sindh chief minister, Rana told reporters that Prime Minister Shehbaz would take the provinces into confidence for the revival of the National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta).