Bhara Kahu mosque attack: ATC extends remand of five suspected accomplices
The police asked for a seven-day remand, given two instead.
The five suspects are charged with facilitating the would-be suicide bomber. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
An anti terrorism court (ATC) on Thursday extended the physical remand of five alleged accomplices of the failed Bhara Kahu bomber by two days.
On Wednesday, a local court had sent the five accused on one-day remand and asked the police to produce them before an ATC.
Five people including an 18-year-old girl were arrested by the Islamabad Police on Sunday from a house on Simly Dam Road where police believe the Eid-day attack on Masjid Ali ibne Abi Talib was planned.
Zakaullah, the alleged suicide bomber, had entered the mosque on Eid day but his suicide vest failed to explode and he was gunned down by a security guard who died in the exchange of fire. The five suspects are charged with facilitating the would-be suicide bomber.
On Thursday, police brought the five alleged accomplices to the ATC in an armoured vehicle amid tight security. The suspects were taken to the courtroom with their faces covered. Members of the media and legal community were not allowed inside the courtroom during the hearing. The police requested ATC judge Atiqur Rehman for a seven-day remand of the suspects but Rehman only approved a two-day additional remand and adjourned the hearing.
Police have identified the five suspects as Hidayatullah, 28, Muhammad Saddam, 19, Muhammad Wali, 22, Yasin, 14, and Mahwish Amjad, 18. Saddam and Wali had been expelled from Bhara Kahu’s Mukhtar College and the girl was also a former student, according to a police investigation report.
In a press conference on Tuesday, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar had revealed that the Bhara Kahu attack consisted of eight people other than the mosque attacker.
The minister had informed that six of the suspected militants, including Hidayatullah, Saddam and Yasin belonged to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. The other three — identified as Muhammad Ibrar, Noor Muhammad and Muhammad Ilyas — have not been arrested yet.
He said the alleged terrorists had tried to enter Islamabad on Eid day but failed to break the heavy security cordon so they decided to target a Shia mosque in Bhara Kahu.
The bomber’s father, two brothers and three other people were also arrested from their village in Bhowana in district Chiniot in Punjab. Law enforcement authorities also arrested a man from Faisalabad and another from Parachinar in Kurram Agency based on information they gathered from the house on Simly Dam Road.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 16th, 2013.
An anti terrorism court (ATC) on Thursday extended the physical remand of five alleged accomplices of the failed Bhara Kahu bomber by two days.
On Wednesday, a local court had sent the five accused on one-day remand and asked the police to produce them before an ATC.
Five people including an 18-year-old girl were arrested by the Islamabad Police on Sunday from a house on Simly Dam Road where police believe the Eid-day attack on Masjid Ali ibne Abi Talib was planned.
Zakaullah, the alleged suicide bomber, had entered the mosque on Eid day but his suicide vest failed to explode and he was gunned down by a security guard who died in the exchange of fire. The five suspects are charged with facilitating the would-be suicide bomber.
On Thursday, police brought the five alleged accomplices to the ATC in an armoured vehicle amid tight security. The suspects were taken to the courtroom with their faces covered. Members of the media and legal community were not allowed inside the courtroom during the hearing. The police requested ATC judge Atiqur Rehman for a seven-day remand of the suspects but Rehman only approved a two-day additional remand and adjourned the hearing.
Police have identified the five suspects as Hidayatullah, 28, Muhammad Saddam, 19, Muhammad Wali, 22, Yasin, 14, and Mahwish Amjad, 18. Saddam and Wali had been expelled from Bhara Kahu’s Mukhtar College and the girl was also a former student, according to a police investigation report.
In a press conference on Tuesday, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar had revealed that the Bhara Kahu attack consisted of eight people other than the mosque attacker.
The minister had informed that six of the suspected militants, including Hidayatullah, Saddam and Yasin belonged to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. The other three — identified as Muhammad Ibrar, Noor Muhammad and Muhammad Ilyas — have not been arrested yet.
He said the alleged terrorists had tried to enter Islamabad on Eid day but failed to break the heavy security cordon so they decided to target a Shia mosque in Bhara Kahu.
The bomber’s father, two brothers and three other people were also arrested from their village in Bhowana in district Chiniot in Punjab. Law enforcement authorities also arrested a man from Faisalabad and another from Parachinar in Kurram Agency based on information they gathered from the house on Simly Dam Road.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 16th, 2013.