Data Darbar suicide bombing: Court awards life term on two counts to facilitator

LAHORE: An Anti-terrorism court on Saturday awarded life term on two counts to Mohsin, a facilitator of Data Darbar suicide bomber, over the charges of having explosive material.

The judge directed the authorities to seize the convict's property. The second sentence will start after the competition of the first one, the judge ordered. It is pertinent to mention that the ATC had earlier awarded death sentence on eleven counts to Mohsin who is associated with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan/Hizbul Ahrar over charges of facilitating the suicide bomber of the Data Darbar blast which claimed 12 lives including Elite Force personnel. The court had also awarded him life imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 400,000.

As per incident details, on May 8, the suicide bomber had targeted an Elite Force vehicle outside Data Darbar, killing at least 12 people including Elite Force personnel and injuring over 25 others. Later, the CTD arrested Mohsin Khan. Mohsin belongs to Shabqadar, Charsadda. He told investigators that Tayyabullah alias Raaki, a resident of the Mohmand district in KP, had received suicide bomber Sadiqullah Mohmand, an Afghan national who entered Pakistan through Torkham on May 6, and escorted him to Lahore for the May 8 strike. The facilitator Mohsin, the handler Tayyabullah and the suicide bomber Sadiqullah stayed in a house at Bhati Gate before hitting the Data Darbar shrine. The attackers are associated with the Hizbul Ahrar, a splinter group of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, which had claimed responsibility for the attack.