Suicide attacker at Islamabad imambargah identified as Peshawar resident

Talal Chaudhry says bomber travelled to Afghanistan multiple times, received training

ISLAMABAD:

The suicide bomber, who attacked at Islamabad’s Imambargah Khadijah al-Kubra on Friday, has been identified as Yasir Khan, a resident of Peshawar, sources close to the investigation told The Express Tribune.

The attacker detonated explosives just as worshippers were offering Friday prayers inside the packed imambargah in the Tarlai area, police and administration officials said, adding that at least 31 worshippers were martyred and around 170 others injured in the blast.

According to preliminary information, Khan had stayed in Afghanistan for approximately five months before returning to Pakistan. Sources also indicated that he may have links with the banned Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) militant outfit, though investigations are ongoing.

Khan is believed to have received militant training during his stay in Afghanistan. “He remained in the ‘Mansoor Istashhadi training centre in northeastern Afghan province of Kuner, and travelled to and from Afghanistan multiple times,” sources told The Express Tribune.

Authorities are continuing their probe to uncover the full network behind the deadly attack and to determine all possible domestic and cross-border connections.

Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry also confirmed that the bomber had been identified. “He is not an Afghan citizen, but forensic examination of the remaining parts of his body has provided information about how many times he had travelled to Afghanistan,” he added.

State broadcaster PTV News stated in an X post that terrorist groups present in Afghanistan pose a broader regional security threat and claimed a nexus between Afghanistan and India behind attacks in Pakistan — an allegation that Kabul denies.

ترلائی کی مسجد میں خودکش دھماکے کے نتیجے میں 31 افراد شہید ہو چکے ہیں اور متعدد نمازی زخمی ہیں - حکومتی ذرائع

خود کُش بمبار کی شناخت ہو چکی ہے۔ حکومتی ذرائع

مصدقہ اطلاعات کے مطابق خود کُش بمبار نے افغانستان سے دہشت گردانہ کاروائیوں کی تربیت حاصل کی۔ حکومتی ذرائع

خودکش… pic.twitter.com/maUdPAPOSn

— PTV News (@PTVNewsOfficial) February 6, 2026

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif blamed what he described as an “India-Afghanistan nexus” for the imambargah carnage.

In a post on X, he stated that it had been established that the attacker had travelled to and from Afghanistan and that evidence was emerging of links between India and the Taliban.

مسجد میں نمازیوں کو شہید کرنے والے دین اور وطن دونوں کے دشمن ھیں ۔ حملے میں ملوث دھشت گرد کاافغانستان آنا جانا ثابت ھو ا ھے ۔ ھندوستان اورطالبان کے گٹھ جوڑ کے تانے بانے مل رہے ھیں۔ سیکورٹی گارڈوں نے اسکو چیلنج کیا جس کے جواب میں اس نے فائرنگ کی اور نمازیوں کی آخری قطار میں اپنے…

— Khawaja M. Asif (@KhawajaMAsif) February 6, 2026

He described the perpetrators as “enemies of both religion and the nation” and pledged that the state would respond to the attack with full force.

Referring to the May 2025 military confrontation between Pakistan and India, he wrote that after a humiliating defeat, India was now fighting through proxies and no longer had the courage to engage in direct warfare.