Suspected facilitators of Bisham attack arrested

PESHAWAR: The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) has arrested some suspected facilitators involved in the attack on the vehicle of Chinese engineers in Bisham tehsil in Shangla last week, it was learnt.

Five Chinese citizens and their Pakistani driver were killed when a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into the vehicle carrying the engineers working on a dam site on March 26.

A source said the vehicle used in the attack was a smuggled car that had no registration details.

On Monday, there were some media reports about the investigation and arrests of 10 terrorists by the CTD in the high-profile case.

When approached, an officer of the CTD, said they had arrested some suspects and an investigation was in progress but the reports in media were not totally correct.

He added that an inquiry had been ordered to know as to who had leaked the information about the case that was exaggerated in the media.

There were reports that CTD along with other agencies were working on the high-profile case.

This was the second attack in the last three years on Chinese engineers working in the area. In July 2021, 13 people, including nine Chinese nationals, two Frontier Constabulary personnel and two locals were killed when their coach was attacked with a bomb in the Dasu area in Kohistan.

Reports later said the mastermind of the attack, Tariq Rafiq, was killed in Kunar province of Afghanistan in July 2023.

Two others, including Muhammad Hussain and Ayaz, were awarded a death sentence by an anti-terrorism court in November 2022 for their involvement in the attack.