Investigations continue: Police yet to find out which group carried attack on SP Awan
An investigating team, headed by Karachi police chief AIG Ghulam Qadir Thebo, has been formed.
KARACHI:
The police investigators have yet to establish which group of militants carried out the targeted attack on SP Farooq Awan on Thursday night.
An investigating team, headed by Karachi police chief AIG Ghulam Qadir Thebo, has been formed. The team is looking at the security camera footage and the evidence collected from the blast site. They are also making use of geo-fencing to check the phone calls made before and after the blast.
"This was definitely not done by one person alone," said a senior officer privy to the matter. "There were obviously more people who were in touch with each other over cellphones and were guiding each other about SP Awan's movements."
Two people were killed and Police Superintendent Farooq Awan, the chief of the Special Investigation Unit of the Criminal Investigation Agency (CIA), was among the seven people injured in the powerful bomb blast near Gizri graveyard on Thursday. Two of Awan's squad's members and two women were also wounded.
Though the footage obtained by the police already revealed that the blast was carried out using a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device, the bomb disposal squad report provided more details. "The explosive material weighed somewhere between 50 and 55 kilogrammes," a bomb disposal expert told The Express Tribune. "A remote control was used to explode the bomb but it has yet to ascertain whether the remote control was simple or had an antenna to transmit signals."
The broken pieces of the Suzuki pick-up van used in the attack were also retrieved from the blast site and were sent to the forensic division of the Sindh Police. "We are also trying to establish the engine-chassis and registration numbers of the vehicle used in the attack," said a member of the investigating team. "Most probably, the militants tampered with these numbers before using it in the attack."
Potential leads
SP Awan, who was in the hospital for his minor injuries, said there was a group of militants behind this attack but he refused to name it. "The attack was from the back ... Waziristan," was all he said from his hospital bed.
Meanwhile, Crime Investigation Department's anti-terror officer Raja Omar Khattab said this attack had much in common with the attack on SP Chaudhry Aslam Khan. Both officers were targeted on their way home from work. "The only difference between the two blasts is that a suicide bomber was sitting in the vehicle that hit Khan's vehicle while, in Awan's case, there was no suicide bomber," said Khattab.
Claiming responsibility
The police have yet to register an FIR as they are waiting for SP Awan to give a statement. There were reports that banned outfit, Jundullah, claimed responsibility of the attack but the police investigators suspect the involvement of Mufti Shakirullah, the mastermind of Chaudhry Aslam's bombing, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan's Swat chapter and Jundullah as well.
"One of them is likely to be behind the attack on SP Awan," said Khattab.
A team of the Federal Investigation Agency also visited the blast site and collected fingerprints and other evidence from the blast site.
The police department has also announced a cash reward of Rs2 million for anyone who identifies the suspects of the attack on SP Awan.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 27th, 2014.
The police investigators have yet to establish which group of militants carried out the targeted attack on SP Farooq Awan on Thursday night.
An investigating team, headed by Karachi police chief AIG Ghulam Qadir Thebo, has been formed. The team is looking at the security camera footage and the evidence collected from the blast site. They are also making use of geo-fencing to check the phone calls made before and after the blast.
"This was definitely not done by one person alone," said a senior officer privy to the matter. "There were obviously more people who were in touch with each other over cellphones and were guiding each other about SP Awan's movements."
Two people were killed and Police Superintendent Farooq Awan, the chief of the Special Investigation Unit of the Criminal Investigation Agency (CIA), was among the seven people injured in the powerful bomb blast near Gizri graveyard on Thursday. Two of Awan's squad's members and two women were also wounded.
Though the footage obtained by the police already revealed that the blast was carried out using a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device, the bomb disposal squad report provided more details. "The explosive material weighed somewhere between 50 and 55 kilogrammes," a bomb disposal expert told The Express Tribune. "A remote control was used to explode the bomb but it has yet to ascertain whether the remote control was simple or had an antenna to transmit signals."
The broken pieces of the Suzuki pick-up van used in the attack were also retrieved from the blast site and were sent to the forensic division of the Sindh Police. "We are also trying to establish the engine-chassis and registration numbers of the vehicle used in the attack," said a member of the investigating team. "Most probably, the militants tampered with these numbers before using it in the attack."
Potential leads
SP Awan, who was in the hospital for his minor injuries, said there was a group of militants behind this attack but he refused to name it. "The attack was from the back ... Waziristan," was all he said from his hospital bed.
Meanwhile, Crime Investigation Department's anti-terror officer Raja Omar Khattab said this attack had much in common with the attack on SP Chaudhry Aslam Khan. Both officers were targeted on their way home from work. "The only difference between the two blasts is that a suicide bomber was sitting in the vehicle that hit Khan's vehicle while, in Awan's case, there was no suicide bomber," said Khattab.
Claiming responsibility
The police have yet to register an FIR as they are waiting for SP Awan to give a statement. There were reports that banned outfit, Jundullah, claimed responsibility of the attack but the police investigators suspect the involvement of Mufti Shakirullah, the mastermind of Chaudhry Aslam's bombing, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan's Swat chapter and Jundullah as well.
"One of them is likely to be behind the attack on SP Awan," said Khattab.
A team of the Federal Investigation Agency also visited the blast site and collected fingerprints and other evidence from the blast site.
The police department has also announced a cash reward of Rs2 million for anyone who identifies the suspects of the attack on SP Awan.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 27th, 2014.