Handler of Bashir Bilour's attacker arrested

CTD arrests 11-member gang of terrorists who confess to their involvement in more than 50 terrorist incidents

PESHAWAR: The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) has arrested a member of a terrorist group who provided shelter to a suicide bomber before sending him off to attack former senior minister Bashir Bilour in December 2012 in Peshawar.

Addressing the media, DIG CTD Salahuddin said that Fazal Muhammad played a key role in the assassination of Awami National Party leader Bashir Bilour as he housed the suicide bomber, Farouq Afridi, for two days before the attack.

“We have collected the information of the cases along with other intelligence organisations and it is an important breakthrough,” he said, adding that CTD had arrested an 11-member gang of terrorists, who had confessed to their involvement in more than 50 terrorist incidents.

“So far, we have checked and verified these statements with records of 25 cases and progress is under way on the rest,” he said, adding that the CTD was actively investigating terrorist cases, and that terrorists hailing from Fata, Afghanistan and other settled parts of the province had been arrested.