Four facilitators, Daesh mastermind held in Islamabad imambargah suicide attack

Sources say attack planned in Afghanistan; bomber used 4–6kg explosives

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistani authorities have made a major breakthrough in the investigation into the suicide terrorist attack at an imambargah in Islamabad’s Tarlai Kalan area, arresting four facilitators and an Afghan mastermind linked to Islamic State (Daesh), security sources said.

Intelligence and law enforcement agencies carried out raids in Peshawar and Nowshera, arresting the four facilitators of the suicide bomber. The operations were conducted on the basis of technical and human intelligence, the sources said.

Security officials said the Afghan mastermind of the attack, linked to Daesh, was also arrested. They said the planning, training and indoctrination of the attacker were carried out by Daesh in Afghanistan. The sources alleged that under the patronage of the Afghan Taliban, Daesh and other terrorist organisations pose a serious threat to regional and global peace.

During the operations, one security personnel was killed and three others were injured, the sources said.

Officials said further intelligence-based operations against terrorists were continuing.

According to investigators, the suicide bomber was identified as Yasir, a resident of Peshawar. His four facilitators were taken into custody, including individuals who allegedly provided facilitation in the Rawalpindi area. Authorities earlier said Yasir’s two brothers, Bilal and Nasir, and his brother-in-law Usman were arrested from the Tarnab Farm area, while his mother was detained from a house in a posh sector of Islamabad.

Also read: Bomber identified as Peshawar resident 'trained in Afghanistan'

Security sources said Yasir conducted reconnaissance of the imambargah before the attack and had also passed through the mosque a week earlier. They said he had stayed in Afghanistan for about four months before returning to Pakistan. The National Forensic Agency and NADRA were also assisting in collecting evidence.

According to preliminary findings, the attacker opened fire before entering the mosque and then detonated himself inside the main hall. He used between four and six kilograms of explosives packed with a large number of ball bearings, the sources said.

The attacker fired two shots on the way to the mosque and six shots after entering it. Officials said all bullet casings were recovered from the scene.

At least 32 people were killed and around 169 others injured when the suicide bomber struck Imambargah Khadijah al-Kubra during Friday prayers, according to authorities and hospital officials. The blast occurred as worshippers gathered for Jumma prayers and was accompanied by explosions and gunfire.

The attack was the deadliest in Islamabad in more than a decade and the deadliest in the country since the Peshawar mosque bombing in January 2023.

Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry 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 said.

State broadcaster PTV News said terrorist groups based in Afghanistan pose a broader regional security threat and claimed a nexus between Afghanistan and India behind attacks in Pakistan, an allegation Kabul has denied.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif echoed those claims, blaming what he described as an “India-Afghanistan nexus” for the imambargah attack. In a post on X, he termed the perpetrators “enemies of both religion and the nation” and said the state would respond with full force.