Suspected attacker turns out to be a victim

LAHORE: Investigation agencies have exonerated Rafique, alias Usman, from charges of attacking the Data Darbar and handed over his body to his family for burial on Saturday.

Police had seized his body on Thursday under the suspicion that it belonged to one of the suicide attackers but thorough investigations of his family revealed that he was in fact a victim, SSP (Investigations) Lahore Iftikhar Hameed told The Express Tribune.

Around 700 people attended the funeral prayers for Rafique at his village just outside of Lahore. “This gathering condemns terrorism. We are peaceful people. Terrorists should stop this bloodbath,” prayer leader Asghar Farid said at the funeral.

The police had recovered two heads from the blast site on Thursday. One of the heads was identified as belonging to Rafiq, son of Malik Yasin, by his brother Latif. The police also took Latif under custody.

Separate heads found at blast sites are usually considered to belong to attackers. Police said that Rafique may have lost his torso for being close to the bomber. One of the investigators said that they may have lost the chance of tracing the actual attacker as they were misled in their assumption that Rafique was one of them since they had ignored other scattered limbs. However, he said there were still chances of collecting information which could lead towards those responsible.

The Lahore police also launched a crackdown and arrested six suspects from different areas of the city. A Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) official said that the suspects were being investigated but declined to disclose their location. Police said they had uncovered 20 suicide bombing vests and two dozen police commando uniforms during a raid in Lahore late Friday.

There has been no claim of responsibility so far, and the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which has been blamed for a wave of bloody attacks over the past three years, has denied involvement.

Meanwhile, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) branded the attackers as “enemies of Islam”. OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu condemned the horrendous suicide attacks, in a statement issued by the OIC.

“Those who committed such deplorable terrorist acts are enemies of Islam and humanity, and should be brought to justice,” Ihsanoglu said. (WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM AFP)

Published in The Express Tribune, July 4^th, 2010.