A suspect behind a suicide attack on a mosque in Peshawar’s Police Lines last year, which claimed at least 84 lives, has been arrested, the provincial police chief said on Tuesday.
On Jan 30, 2023, a powerful explosion ripped through a mosque in Peshawar’s Red Zone area where between 300 and 400 people — mostly police officers — had gathered for prayers.
The banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had claimed responsibility for the attack. It later distanced itself from the blast but sources earlier indicated that it might have been the handiwork of some local faction of the outlawed group.
Addressing the press conference in Peshawar today, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General of Police (IG) Akhtar Hayat Gandapur said the “remaining missing link” was related to who had facilitated Qari, the alleged suicide bomber.
“As a result of that effort, […] we arrested this person along with two suicide jackets from near Jameel Chowk on Peshawar’s Ring Road on 11/11, meaning yesterday,” the IG stated, referring to the facilitator.
Then-KP IG Moazzam Jah Ansari had said in February last year that the suicide bomber was “clad in a police uniform”. He had said that technical evidence and information collected suggested that the blast was the work of TTP’s Jamaatul Ahrar faction.
In March 2023, the KP Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) said the mastermind and the handler of the suicide bomber had been traced, stating that “both of them were Afghan nationals.”
Then-CTD chief Shaukat Abbas said the suicide bomber was identified only by his alias “Qari” and his handler was identified as Ghaffar aka Salma. He had further confirmed that the attack was carried out by Jamaatul Ahrar.
In his press conference, IG Gandapur highlighted that based on the interrogation, it was deduced that the facilitator “was our own policeman”.
More to follow
