Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has said that intelligence agencies have arrested all four terrorists including mastermind of Daesh (ISS) who were involved in Islamabad mosque bombing, adding that CCD Peshawar responded quickly and arrested three facilitators of the suicide bomber by 3am in the night, reported 24NewsHD TV Channel.
Talking to media in Islamabad after chairing a high-level meeting of the security agencies, Naqvi said that the mastermind of Daesh was in the custody of the government. He said that all members of Daesh got training from Afghanistan.
He said raids were conducted in Peshawar and Nowshehra in collaboration with Counter Terrorism Department Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other agencies.The Interior Minister said the mastermind of the incident is an Afghan citizen and is in our custody. He said the entire planning and training of the attack was done in Afghanistan by Daesh. He said there is not even a flicker of doubt now that Afghanistan is the breeding hub of terrorist organizations.
The Interior Minister added that be it TTP, Taliban, Daesh or any other group, all are operating from Afghan soil with funding from India. He said India has raised the budget for this funding since May last year. The Minister said after the humiliating defeat by Pakistan in Marka-e-Haq, India engaged in covert warfare against Pakistan through these terrorist groups. He said we will bring all the details and updates in this regard before the world through our missions abroad.
Mohsin Naqvi said our resolve against terrorism is firm, clear and unequivocal. He said terrorist organizations cannot be categorized or differentiated nor can any leniency be shown to any of them in anyway whatsoever.
He said that 21 terrorists organizations were operating from Afghanistan. Naqvi said that security agencies worked together in investigating the blast.
Naqvi said, “Our law enforcement agencies did a great job, it is a big achievement to trace and arrest them so quickly.” Naqvi said he would like to give credit to CTD Peshawar and all the agencies.
Mohsin Naqvi said that the government shares the grief of the victims of the blast. He said yesterday was a sad day for Pakistan. He expressed condolences with the victim families, adding that this incident has shaken the nation.
Earlier, Security sources had claimed that there was a major breakthrough in the investigation into the Friday’s suicide bombing in Islamabad as the intelligence and law-enforcement agencies have arrested the Afghan mastermind of gruesome attack and four facilitators of the bomber during operations in Peshawar and Noshehra, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Saturday, quoting security sources.
The security sources further divulged that during the joint operations which were carried out with the help of technical and human intelligence, it was discovered that the Daesh orchestrated the attack and trained the bomber inside Afghanistan. They said the planning, training and radicalization for the attack were conducted in Afghanistan by Daesh.
During one operation, a son of the soil was martyred and three others were injured, the sources said and added the operations were still going on.
Meanwhile, the death toll in the suicide bombing at the imambargah-mosque rose to 33 on Saturday as another injured succumbed to his wounds at the PIMS. More than 150 worshippers were also injured in the attack.
Doctors informed media men that 97 injured people were still under treatment at the PIMS. Condition of more than 20 was very serious.
Earlier, police in Peshawar have raided the home of the suicide bomber who had exploded himself at an imambargah in Tarlai area of Islamabad on Friday and arrested four members of his family, including his two brothers and a woman, who were later shifted to an undisclosed location for questioning.
Sources confided to the TV channel that the national identity card (CNIC) of the bomber has been found from the site of the blast, which has helped the officials identify him as Yasir, son of Bahadur Khan.
They have elaborated that Yasir, who was associated with Daesh, had stayed in Afghanistan for five months where he received training in the use of weapons and carrying out a suicide attack.
Meanwhile, the police have found out how did the suicide attacker of Tarlai tragedy reached his target.
According to police sources, the attacker reached the blast site from Nowshera wearing a suicide jacket through public transport.
Before the attack, the bomber sat at a nearby hotel for some time, and walked to the desired target from Khanna Road.
The 25-year-old attacker, Yasir, had been missing from home for last one and a half year but he kept in touch by calling his family members.
The attacker also conducted reconnaissance of the location before carrying out the terrorist attack.
Law enforcement agencies have collected evidence and the National Forensic Agency and NADRA were also on board.
According to sources, four to six kilograms of explosives were used in the suicide attack. Innumerous number of ball bearings were used in the suicide bomb vest.
Funerals offered
Funerals took place on Saturday for some of the victims of the suicide blast at a Imambargah-mosque in Islamabad, which killed at least 33 worshippers and wounded 169 others.
Collective funeral prayer of those martyred in Tarlai, Islamabad blast was offered on Saturday. A large number of people including Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Tariq Fazal Chaudhry attended the funeral prayers.
AFP journalists at a major hospital on Friday afternoon saw several people, including children, being carried in on stretchers.
Medics and bystanders helped unload victims with blood-soaked clothes from the back of ambulances and vehicles as friends and relatives of the wounded wept and screamed.
Heavily armed security forces guarded the mosque, where pools of blood were visible on the ground.
Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences report
A a detailed report released by the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) said that 28 dead and 121 injured were brought to the hospital.
The report informed that 26 complicated operations had been performed to save the lives of the injured, while over 60 units of blood had also been provided.
Similarly, it added, the supply of medicines and surgical instruments had also been ensured.
Furthermore, all doctors, interns, surgeons, nurses and other paramedical staff stayed at the hospital despite the completion of their duty hours in order to look after those injured in the blast.
11 more injured discharged from PIMS hospital. The number of injured undergoing treatment at PIMS has reduced to 54. The condition of 24 injured undergoing treatment at PIMS is critical. A total of 149 injured were brought to PIMS yesterday.
Reporters: Ahmad Mansoor, Babar Shahbaz Turk, Farhat Shah and Hashir Warraich