Cop held for links to Peshawar police lines attack

PESHAWAR: The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) along with law-enforcement agencies have arrested a cop for facilitating the attack on the Malik Saad Shaheed Police Lines in the provincial capital on January 30 last year, senior police officials said on Tuesday.

Considered to be the biggest attack on any police headquarters in the country, 86 policemen were martyred and over 240 wounded in the suicide blast in the central mosque of the police lines.

“The Counter-Terrorism Department along with law enforcement agencies arrested the terrorist associated with Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a sub-organization of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan from Jamil Chowk on Ring Road. Two suicide jackets, explosives and arms were also recovered from him,” Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General of Police Akhtar Hayat Khan told a press conference.

The IGP was flanked by Capital City Police Officer Qasim Ali Khan and Additional Inspector General, CTD, Shaukat Abbas during the press conference at the CTD headquarters.

The police chief said the held terrorist was identified as Muhammad Wali, a serving constable of the KP Police. He said the accused was an important worker of the banned Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, who facilitated the identification of the target and bringing in the suicide bomber to the police lines mosque.

Before the cop, another facilitator of the attack, Imtiaz alias Tora Shpa was arrested on March 17 last year from Khyber district, who revealed important information related to the suicide blast.

According to the top cops, Imtiaz, who was a backup for the suicide bomber, revealed the involvement of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and TTP in the attack, saying it was carried out as a revenge for the murder of former Jamaat-ul-Ahrar amir Umar Khalid Khorasani on August 7, 2021.

The IGP said Wali was arrested after hard work of over 22 months. He added the held terrorist had confessed to facilitating the suicide bomber. Officials said Muhammad Wali took leave from the department some time back to go to Afghanistan where he met the commanders of the banned group.

Akhtar Hayat said the facilitator dropped the suicide bomber near Pir Zakori Bridge after which the bomber reached the police lines.

The held constable informed the commanders after the suicide blast on a social media app, on which he was given Rs200,000 reward for facilitating the martyrdom of his 86 colleagues.

According to the IG Police, the arrested suspect also targeted a priest in 2020 and also facilitated a bomb attack on police on Warsak Road. In February 2024, the suspect provided a pistol to an accused named Saifullah, with which the member of the Ahmadi community was killed. He also provided weapons to a terrorist who martyred two policemen in Lahore.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police have released a video statement of the accused in which he informed that he had been recruited as constable in the KP Police in 2019. He said he was connected to one Junaid of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar on Facebook in 2021 and later went to Jalalabad to join their ranks. The accused Wali in his confessional statement said that he got Rs20,000 for joining Jamaat-ul-Ahrar. In January 2023, he shared the map of the police lines with the handler. The accused also provided police uniform to the suicide bomber, the officials said. Meanwhile, An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) granted to the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) the 15-day physical remand of a police official, Muhammad Wali, who was arrested on the charges of facilitating the suicide bombing at the police lines mosque. The accused Wali Muhammad was produced before ATC Judge Muhammad Iqbal Khan amid tight security. CTD Peshawar’s investigating officer informed the court that the suspect was accused of aiding the suicide bomber involved in the attack on the police lines in Peshawar on January 30 last year.

The court handed over the suspect to the CTD for a 15-day physical remand.