KP CTD nabs facilitator of Police Lines bombing

PESHAWAR: A senior police official Friday claimed that there was a covering suicide bomber to carry out the attack who would have acted if his accomplice involved in Malik Saad Shaheed Police Lines bombing had failed.

“We have arrested a facilitator of the suicide bomber identified as Imtiaz Khan alias Tora Shpa. He himself was a trained suicide bomber and had to blow himself up if the bomber (Qari) who carried out the attack had failed,” Additional Inspector General (Addl IGP) of the Counter-Terrorism Department Shaukat Abbas told a press conference at the Police Lines where the bomber had targeted the mosque.

The official said the case was investigated from different angles while over 300 CCTV cameras were checked to track the suicide bomber and find evidence that led the investigators to the handler and facilitators.

The bomber belonged to the Jamatul Ahrar group of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Shaukat said the mastermind of the suicide bomber was identified as Abdul Ghaffar. The official said the facilitator of Imtiaz had also been identified whose details were being kept secret.

“The one who detonated explosives around his vest is identified as Qari in his organization. He belonged to Kunduz,” said the official.

He said Qari and Imtiaz were trained by Maulvi Abdul Baseer in Afghanistan and the attack had been planned in Afghanistan.

The additional inspector general said 84 people were martyred and 233 others were wounded in the police liens mosque bombing on January 30.

The blast took place when around 400 policemen and people from nearby offices were offering the Zuhr prayers.

The explosion was so powerful that a major portion of the mosque caved in, leaving many victims trapped under the debris for hours. The attack was the biggest on police in the country’s history.