PESHAWAR: The police have arrested a militant commander Iqbal alias Qari Basit from inside a mosque at Gang Gori area in District Batagram in Hazara Division and seized parts used in making suicide jackets alongside arms and ammunition on Monday.
District Police Officer Batagram Ghulam Husain said that the militant commander Iqbal and his cohort Eajz ul Haq were taken into custody from a local mosque in Gang Gori area.
The accused had concealed weapons, ammunition and parts used in suicide jacket assembly in the basement of the mosque.
The weaponry seized by the authorities include 115 kilograms of explosives, seven AK-47 rifles, 22 hand grenades, four pressure cooker bombs, one anti-aircraft gun, parts used to put together a suicide jacket, and jihadist literature.
The DPO said that Iqbal alias Qari Basit was a close ally of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Swat Chapter leader Fazlullah.
He said that Iqbal was detailed as commander district Batagram, Mansehra, Tor Ghar and Shangla.
The district police officer alleged that the militant commander mastermind several suicide and bomb attacks including the suicide bomb plot intended to kill Ameer Muqam last year in July, which in turn resulted in the deaths of seven civilians.
The DPO said that Qari Basit was also involved in blowing up a bus filled with recruits on their way to Tor Ghar district to receive training which ended in killing of seven recruits. (APP)