Police and Rangers separately announce rewards for information that can help identify them; bomber and the two facilitators had visited shrine day before the attack and stayed there for an hour
The Sindh Counter-Terrorism Department issued on Friday footage and pictures of the men believed to be the facilitators in the bomb blast at the shrine of Sufi saint Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan Sharif on February 16, 2017.
CTD Additional IG Sanaullah Abbasi told reporters that the footage of 38 CCTV cameras installed at the shrine was gathered and the facilitators were identified after extensively going through it.
He added that the bomber, who was seen in footage of the blast wearing a suicide vest, was seen visiting the shrine with two other men, believed to be his facilitators, on February 15, a day before the blast.
The bomber and his facilitators stayed at the shrine for over an hour.
The official said the pictures of the suspects had been sent to the National Database and Registration Authority for identification. “We have shared this information with the public to speed up the process of identifying the men seen with the bomber,” he added.
The official said the CTD, Rangers, intelligence agencies and police officials of Dadu and Sehwan had collected samples and other evidence.
Besides, he added, the members of the case’s investigation team had visited the crime scene in regular intervals.
He said that the evidence had been shared with Rangers to help them identify the men.
CTD Intelligence Wing chief SSP Omer Shahid Hamid told The News that the two men seen with the bomber appeared to be members of the Brohi community. He added the Hafeez Brohi group of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which was operating from Balochistan, was found to be involved in earlier terrorist attacks in rural Sindh.
However, he said, it was too early to confirm whether the Hafeez Brohi group was involved in the attack or not.
To a query, the SSP said the pictures of the bomber and the facilitators had been sent to Nadra and the delay in the authority’s response was because of some technical issue that would be sorted out soon.
Reward announced
The Sindh police have announced a reward of Rs5 million for information that could help identify the bomber and the facilitators. The information could be provided to the CTD on its number 99203438.
Rangers too have issued the footage and sketches of the bomber and facilitators and announced a reward of Rs5million for information that can assist in identifying them.
A Rangers spokesperson said the information could be provided on the paramilitary force’s WhatsApp number 0316-2369996, email address rangers.madadgar@gmal.com or helpline number 1101.
Security reviewed
The spokesperson said a joint group meeting of representatives of law-enforcement agencies was held at the Rangers headquarters, presided over by the paramilitary force’s director general Maj Gen Mohammad Saeed. Senior officials of Rangers, police , and intelligence agencies attended the meeting.
The participants of the meeting reviewed the law and order situation in the province and discussed methods to maintain peace.
They also reviewed the progress of the Sehwan blast investigation and decided to share it with the public.
Over 70 people including women and children were killed and more than 250 injured in the shrine blast.
Thousands of devotees from across the country arrive at the shrine of Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar every Thursday.
