New security checkposts to be set up after Nowshera attack

NOWSHERA: A joint investigation team has started its work in the wake of the suicide bombing that was claimed by the outlawed terrorist group, Jamaatul Ahrar. District Police Officer (DPO) Shehzad Nadeem Bukhari told reporters that the joint investigation team included officials of the Counter Terrorism Department, intelligence agencies and Nowshera Police. He said investigations were continuing to trace the abettors and facilitators of the suicide bomber. He added that the suicide bomber was 14-15 years old.

Meanwhile, the Jamaatul Ahrar, the splinter group of the proscribed militant organisation, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), on Friday claimed responsibility for the suicide attack on the convoy of the Frontier Corps (FC) in Nowshera. It released the photo of the alleged suicide bomber Roohul Amin, son of Usman and resident of Batikot in the eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan. Fourteen persons, including seven soldiers and seven civilian were wounded in the attack that took place at the Kutchery Chowk near the Railway Phatak on Thursday.

Meanwhile, four of injured were discharged from the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Nowshera while two others were referred to CMH in Peshawar. Their condition was stated to be stable. Two injured persons were also discharged from the District Headquarters Hospital. Eight others were under treatment at this hospital.

Adnan Khan, an eyewitness and survivor of the attack, said that he was on way home on his bike when the attack happened. "I was thrown away due to the impact of the blast, but luckily remained unhurt," he recalled.

Meanwhile, a high-level meeting was held to discuss the terrorist attack with the Station Commander Brigadier Nazir Hussain Khan in the chair. Deputy Commissioner Nowshera, Khwaja Sikandar Zeeshan, DPO Shehzad Nadeem Bukhari, Superintendent of Police (Investigation) Sanaullah Khan and heads of all the concerned security agencies attended the meeting that continued for four hours.

A statement said they discussed various aspects of the incident and set up targets in the light of geo-forensics evidence collected from the scene in a bid to trace the facilitators of the suicide bomber. Brigadier Nazir Hussain Khan said the incident was being investigated and perpetrators of the attack would be traced and arrested at the earliest.

He said the security forces would carry out a full-scale search operation in Nowshera and no militant would be spared. He said there were threats of a possible militant attack and the law-enforcing agencies had been put on high alert. He added that new security checkposts would be established and militants would not be allowed to reorganise.