Father, brother of Mastung suicide bomber arrested in Karachi

Police say they have arrested the father and brother of the suicide bomber behind the July 13 terrorist attack in Mastung that killed 149 people, including election candidate Nawab Siraj Raisani, a Geo News report said on Friday. The duo was arrested in an intelligence- based raid by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) in Banaras area, SSP Pervaiz Chandio said at a press conference here.

The suicide bomber, Hafiz Nawaz, was reportedly part of Daesh and had been affiliated with the Lashkar-e- Jhangvi as well. Chandio said that both the relatives had been hiding since the terror incident and were planning to flee to Afghanistan with the rest of family members. Meanwhile, raids were conducted by law enforcement personnel in Manghopir and Old Sabzi Mandi areas on the information given by the arrested men. "In the raids two more facilitators of the suicide bombers were arrested. Suspects Shiraz and Wali Ahmed were trained in Afghanistan and Panjgaur," SSP CTD Chandio said.

Authorities said the suicide bomber detonated in the middle of a compound where the political meeting was taking place. The blast wounded around 150 people, a senior provincial government official confirmed. Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) officials confirmed that it was a suicide blast and noted that almost 16-20 kilograms of explosives were used in the explosion. The bombing was the most deadly attack in Pakistan in over three years since the APS tragedy — when Taliban terrorists assaulted a school in Peshawar in 2014, killing around 150 people, mostly children — and it was the third incident of election-related violence in a week. Terrorists have targeted politicians, religious gatherings, security forces, and even schools in Pakistan. However, security across the country has dramatically improved since government and military operations cleared large swathes of territory near the Afghan border in recent years.