Police see LeJ hand in Jacobabad attack

Karachi
Banned sectarian outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is responsible for the recent blast on a Shia procession in Jacobabad, investigators probing into the case told The News on Sunday.
They added that samples collected from the scene of the attack, including the remains of the suspected suicide bomber, had been collected and would be sent to the DNA laboratory and the National Database and Registration Authority for analysis.
On the directives of the provincial government, IGP Ghulam Hyder Jamali had formed two different teams to probe into the Jacobabad blast.
A team headed by additional IG counter-terrorism department Sanaullah Abbasi was formed. The police’s forensic division is assisting the team. Raja Umer Khattab, the chief of transnational anti-terrorism intelligence group and a member of the team, has already left for Jacobabad.
The additional IG CTD, DIG Arif Haneef and the department’s SSP will reach Jacobabad on Monday morning.
A fact-finding committee has also been formed under the Larkana DIG. The SSPs of Jacobabad, Shikarpur, Larkana and SSP Special Branch are its other members. The team has been directed to ascertain the causes behind the blast and to fix the responsibility in connection with any negligence.
Talking to The News, Raja Umer Khattab said the IGP had formed a committee under the supervision of additional IG CTD on whose directives he had reached Jacobabad Sunday and visited the crime scene.
He said initially it was suspected that it was a suicide attack and during the inspection of the crime scene, two hands were found, including two fingers of the right hand and four fingers of the left hand of the bomber.
The other particulars or parts of the body were a half torso, legs and some hair apart from the ball bearings and pistol found there.
Khattab said they had initially took the fingerprints of the suspect which would be sent to the NADRA Headquarters for details and also collected samples for a DNA test which would be sent to the laboratory on Monday for examination.
The body parts show that the bomber might be 23 or 24 years old.
To a query, Khattab said ball bearings and pistol would be sent to the forensic laboratory. He added that a bomber usually possessed a gun so that if he failed to explode himself, he could shoot himself.
Khattab said the involvement of the LeJ could not be ruled out and many militants of the outfit were arrested or killed by security forces recently.
He added that the nexus of the banned LeJ in Karachi had been damaged by the security forces and their members had taken refuge in the hilly areas of Balochistan
He said during Muharram, police were primarily focused on Karachi and the LeJ Balochistan chapter, failing to carry out an attack in the city, opted for Jacobabad as it was easier for its members to reach there from the bordering province.