Terrorists used Afghan SIMs: ISPR

Lt Gen Asim Bajwa says data collected revealed who sent attackers and where they had come from; substantial work remains to be done against terrorists

ISLAMABAD: The Director General of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Lieutenant General Asim Saleem Bajwa, has said that security forces have gathered satisfactory information about the attackers of the Bacha Khan University in Charsadda, adding that the attackers used Afghan SIMs.

“We have gathered all the relevant data with regard to where these terrorists came from and who sent them,” he said, while addressing the media in Peshawar after a high-level briefing that took place in the corps headquarters in the city under the Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif.

“The terrorists were continuously conversing on their mobile phones, two of which we have recovered and collected data from them,” he added.General Bajwa said it was a major success of the forces that within 45 minutes, the terrorists were contained inside the varsity. “There were 52 guards of the Bacha Khan University who responded to the attackers, whereas within a short span of time, law enforcing agencies (LEAs) also reached the site,” he said.

The army chief arrived at the Pakistan Army’s corps headquarters in Peshawar to chair a special security conference, the DG ISPR said. “The special security conference was attended by all the officials concerned including intelligence men.”

He said that major breakthroughs had been made in identifying the terrorists who had attacked the Bacha Khan University in Charsadda earlier in the day. The ISPR chief said the terrorists’ phone calls had been traced and analysed, and that two cell phones had also been recovered from them.

“When the army reached the premises, all the four attackers were alive. They were contained in a hostel and were eventually eliminated on the roof and the stairs,” he said, adding that they had a lot of ammunition, including grenades. “Their call logs were analysed and an intelligence picture was established, with most data having been collected,” said Gen Bajwa. He said that forensics and fingerprints of the attackers had been shared with the National Database Registration Authority (Nadra), adding that “an intelligence picture was also being created with input from Nadra.

“We have gathered almost all the relevant data on who they (attackers) were, from where they came and who supported them.”

But, the ISPR chief said, the information was “sensitive” and was being “processed and updated,” which will be shared with the public later.

“We cleared the sanctuaries of terrorists after which certain people crossed the border towards Afghanistan and are operating from there. That aspect is also under investigation,” he maintained.

General Bajwa said terrorists were getting instructions from outside and were receiving calls. “They (terrorists) are targeting symbols of progress. We are fighting a war against faceless b*** (terrorists).”

The ISPR chief said, “As long as the facilitators and financiers of terrorists are present, they can carry out an attack at any place and time. What matters is how we respond to this as a nation.”

Intelligence-based operations (IBOs) are being carried out to hunt down the facilitators of the terrorists involved in the Charsadda attack, he said.

He said that necessary information about the terrorist attack on the Bacha Khan University, Charsadda, has been obtained. He said 18 students and two staff members of the university were martyred in the terrorist attack. He said most of the hideouts of terrorists had been destroyed and they were now targeting innocent people in frustration.

Lt-Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa said the whole nation was united to defeat the terrorists and achievements of the Operation Zarb-e-Azb were before everyone. He said substantial work remains to be accomplished against the terrorists. He said the terrorists will never succeed in their nefarious designs.