Two more held over Wazirabad shooting

Police arrested two more suspects related to the firing on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s long march container in Wazirabad, as interrogation of the suspected arrested from the scene continued on Friday.

Police identified the arrested suspected as Naveed. The alleged shooter was in the custody of the district police but on Friday, he was moved to the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Centre.

It is learnt that the police arrested two more suspects, identified as Waqas and Faisal Butt, on pointation of the prime suspect Naveed, the suspected shooter. Naveed told officers that the he bought the gun and 26 bullets for Rs20,000.

The suspect however did not point out to anyone during the initial investigations. He remained firmed that he acted alone and claimed that a few speeches of Imran Khan hurt of his religious sentiment.

His mobile phone reportedly had those clips. Besides, speeches of a few religious scholars were also recovered from his mobile phone. The suspect said that he used to hear the speeches of the religious scholars.

Naveed told the investigators that he was frustrated because Imran Khan was misleading the nation and had also uttered blasphemous and anti-religion words, according to sources, close to the investigation.
It transpired during the interrogation that Naveed attempted to target Imran initially from a rooftop. For that purpose, he also went into a mosque but could not get a chance.

READ Imran escapes assassination at PTI long march

Afterwards, after walked towards the container and opened firing from a distance of over a dozen feet. He said that he had fired a burst of around eight bullets before his handgun jammed after a bullet got stuck.

Naveed also claimed that the guards on the container shot back at him and a bullet fired from guards hit the Moazam, the deceased march participant.

Meanwhile, the investigators recovered 11 empties from the crime scene. Reportedly, those had been fired from two different weapons –a pistol and an automated assault rifle.

The investigators decided to conduct forensic examination of the empties and the slug recovered from the body of the deceased person as well as the weapons which were in use of the guards.

The investigators have also decided to conduct a polygraphic test to seek an expert opinion if the prime suspect had been telling the truth. The investigation teams are also searching for others clues to other suspects in the case.

So far the investigation had not find out any evidence that could lead them to the involvement of another shooter, unlike the claims of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership.
Meanwhile, the FIR of the incident had not been registered despite the passage of more than 24 hours.

Former Prime Minister Imran Khan in speech from the hospital had talked about three suspects. However, the authorities did not agree on naming those persons in the FIR.

Centre offers help
Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said on Friday the federal government was ready to provide its assistance in the investigation of assassination attempt on former prime minister Imran Khan.

Imran was shot at and injured on Thursday evening when a suspect, standing in front of the container carrying the PTI chief and senior party leaders, showered a volley of bullets with an automatic pistol.