Police detain father, siblings of Bara Kahu bomber

The family is said to have links with Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.

FAISALABAD/ ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad police have detained the father and three brothers of a would-be suicide bomber who had tried to attack an Imambargah on the first day of Eidul Fitr on the edge of the federal capital.

The private security guards of the Imambargah in the Bara Kahu area had shot dead the suicide bomber in a firefight before he could detonate the explosives he was carrying. He was later identified as Zakaullah, a resident of Chiniot district and activist of the proscribed extremist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which is responsible for most sectarian violence in the country.

On Monday, an Islamabad police team raided the house of Zakaullah in Chak No 239, in the Bhowana area of Chiniot and detained his father Muhammad Bux and three brothers Muhammad Nawaz, Muhammad Ejaz and Liaqat Ali. They have been shifted to an undisclosed location for interrogation.

District Police Officer (DPO) Rao Muneer Ahmad Zia confirmed the arrests. He said Zakaullah has nine siblings – six brothers and three sisters. The bomber’s father is said to be a staunch LeJ activist. “Muhammad Bux was a schoolteacher who also radicalised all his sons,” DPO Zia told journalists. “Zakaullah studied up to Matric at Government High School Chak No 237-JB and later joined the Jamia Mehmoodia seminary in Chiniot for religious education,” he added. “He also studied at Multan’s Jamia Rahimia seminary before joining the LeJ.”

DPO Zia said that Zakaullah got training at LeJ terrorist camps in North Waziristan Agency. “He was one of the top 10 militants of the Punjabi Taliban,” he added.

In Bara Kahu meanwhile, the police detained four people – two men and as many women – from a house on Simly Dam road. Police believe Zakaullah had stayed at the house for some time before carrying out the attack.

Sources told The Express Tribune that the house owner belongs to Parachinar, the headquarters of Kurram Agency, and his brother has been picked up by law enforcers from Parachinar for investigations.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 13^th, 2013.