Ali Masjid bomber ‘trained in Nangarhar’

The suicide bomber, who blew himself up at a small under-construction mosque in the mountainous Ali Masjid area of Khyber tribal district last month, had crossed over from Afghanistan 20 days before his malevolent act ditching his nuptial preps back home, The Express Tribune has learnt from his handler.

Additional SHO Adnan Afridi was martyred when the 22-year-old bomber, now identified as Ansar, detonated the charge inside the mosque nestled in the mountains of Ali Masjid on July 24.

Ansar illegally traversed the treacherous Afghan frontier scaling the mountains of Shalman area of Khyber. “He stayed with me at a farmhouse in Landi Kotal for two nights,” the handler, named Abu Zar, further said, adding that Ansar had received his suicide vest in Landi Kotal. Ansar was trained in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar.

All the communication between the bomber and his handler took place on WhatsApp messenger. Merely 20 days before his nuptial ceremony, he ditched the preparations and crossed over into Pakistan to unleash a devastating explosion inside the under-construction Ali Masjid.

“On July 25, he put on the suicide vest, which he had received in Landi Kotal, and boarded a Suzuki Carry that we rented for Rs1,000 at Sultan Khel to drive us to Ali Masjid,” Abu Zar further told The Express Tribune.

Suspicion shrouded the air as Ansar approached the vicinity of Ali Masjid, catching the attention of police. He walked into the mosque and, in an act of desperation, detonated the explosives strapped to his body, blowing up the entire edifice. “I was arrested at the site,” he added.

Abu Zar further revealed that Ansar’s arrival from Afghanistan marked his first step onto Pakistani soil, while he was also facilitated in his travel from the Afghan border to Landi Kotal. “We wanted to target a police vehicle or security forces convoy,” he added.

While speaking to The Express Tribune, Sohail Khalid, DIG, Counter Terrorism Department, said that the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, which has claimed most terrorist violence in Pakistan, was involved in the Ali Masjid suicide attack. “The attack was planned and orchestrated from Afghanistan. The bomber swapped his police uniform for civilian garb at Landi Kotal, a ruse to deceive the unsuspecting,” he added.

DIG Khalid revealed that eight facilitators of the bomber have been taken into custody in a crackdown that ensued the bombing. They include the owner of the farmhouse where the bomber stayed for two nights and the driver of the Suzuki Carry who ferried him to the blast site.

There has been a sudden uptick in terrorist attacks in Pakistan in recent months. The last two months have seen five suicide bombings in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, including three in Khyber, and one each in Peshawar and Bajaur. Four of these attacks were carried out by the TTP, while the Bajaur bombing was jointly orchestrated by the TTP and Da’ish,” he claimed.

“We have unraveled the network that perpetrated the attacks in Peshawar, Khyber and Bajaur. Its members cannot escape the clutches of law,” DIG Khalid said. He further revealed that the Da’ish was behind the recent targeted killings of Sikh community members and religious scholars.

Dozens of people were killed and many more injured when a suicide bomber struck at a public rally of Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s JUI-F in Bajaur on July 30. The TTP and Afghan Taliban were quick to condemn, but later Da’ish claimed credit for the sickening carnage.

The mass casualty attack prompted renewed calls from the Pakistan government to the Taliban rulers in Kabul to crack down on the TTP which has been using its safe havens inside Afghanistan to orchestrate terror attacks inside Pakistan.