Peshawar suicide bomber’s accomplice held

Investigation reveals mosque attack plan hatched in Afghanistan

PESHAWAR:

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa additional inspector general of police on Friday claimed that an accomplice of the suicide bomber who blew himself up at the Peshawar Police Lines mosque in January had been arrested.

On Jan 30, a powerful explosion ripped through a mosque in Peshawar’s Red Zone area where up to 400 people, mostly police officers, had gathered for prayers. Eighty-four people were martyred in the blast which blew away the wall of the prayer hall and an inner roof.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack. However, it later distanced itself from it. Sources revealed that it could have been the handiwork of some local faction of the group.

Addressing a news conference, Counter-Terrorism Department’s Shaukat Abbas revealed that the attack was planned in Afghanistan and carried out by the TTP’s group – Jamaatul Ahrar.

Abbas said the suicide bomber who blew himself up at the Peshawar Police Lines was known as Qari in the TTP circles and belonged to Mohmand Agency. During the investigation of the case, he said, the other suicide bomber, “whose name is Imtiaz Khan, has also been arrested from Peshawar”.

He said that the second suicide bomber was also prepared for the blast. “If the first suicide bomber failed, this second bomber would have attacked.”

He said that both attackers received training in Kunduz, Afghanistan, while the mastermind of the suicide attack was Ghaffar alias Salman, who was in contact with the attacker on the day of the incident.

“The suicide bomber and his handler were identified with the help of 300 cameras,” the additional IG said, vowing to leave no stone unturned in bringing the perpetrators to justice.