CTD confirms TTP’s hand behind Besham terror attack

Over a dozen militants, facilitators arrested; raids underway to arrest mastermind

PESHAWAR:

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) confirmed on Monday that the terror attack in Besham, which killed five Chinese nationals, was backed by the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

The report submitted by the CTD stated that the authorities had nabbed the main facilitator who brought the suicide bomber from Afghanistan. It added that the explosives-laden vehicle was brought through Chaman to DaraZinda town in Dera Ismail Khan district for Rs0.25 million.

CTD sources also said that the vehicle used was non-custom paid and was parked at a petrol station for a fee of Rs500 per day. Two facilitators were also arrested from Balochistan.

Read Chinese diplomat urges swift action over Bisham tragedy

The report added that CTD arrested over a dozen militants and facilitators of the Dasu suicide attack. Multiple raids have also been carried out to arrest the reported mastermind of the attack, Hazrat Bilal, who is also wanted in prior attacks on Chinese engineers.

Earlier, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif instructed a thorough joint investigation into the Besham terrorist attack.

A vehicle-borne suicide bomber targeted a convoy of Chinese engineers in the remote Besham area of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Tuesday, killing six people.

The Chinese engineers were en route from Islamabad to their camp in Dasu – the district headquarters of the Upper Kohistan district of K-P. Their vehicle was hit by an explosive-laden vehicle, coming from the opposite direction, near Lahore Nala on the Karakoram Highway.

The Chinese engineers’ vehicle was thrown off the mountainous road into a deep ravine by the impact of the blast, killing all six on board, including five Chinese engineers and their Pakistani driver. The security forces reached the spot, shut the strategic highway for traffic on both sides and launched an investigation.