Peshawar mosque suicide bomber was Afghan: police

PESHAWAR: An Islamic State (IS) suicide bomber who killed 64 people at a mosque in northwest Pakistan last week was an Afghan exile who returned home to train for the attack, police said Wednesday.

Two senior Pakistan police officials told AFP that the suicide bomber responsible for Friday´s Peshawar blast had prepared the attack in Afghanistan. It was claimed by IS, whose Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) affiliate has been active for years in both Pakistan and Afghanistan, where it is in violent competition with the Taliban.

The officials said the attacker was an Afghan national in his 30s who moved to Pakistan with his family decades ago.

"The bomber went (back) to Afghanistan, trained there and returned without informing his family," one of the senior police officials told AFP.

"Islamic State-Khorasan is becoming a strong threat for us, they are operating from Afghanistan but they have sleeping cells here," he added. Taliban officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Javed Aziz Khan adds: Officials on Wednesday said the police and the Counter-Terrorism Department were conducting raids to arrest four alleged terrorists who had managed to escape during an encounter in Khyber as the three slain men were identified to be the members of the group involved in suicide attack on mosque in Koocha Risaldar last week.

"Police, CTD and intelligence agencies conducted a raid on the lead from the father of the suicide bomber in Ghuriza area of Jamrud, Khyber district on Tuesday. The terrorists opened fire on the raiding party that was retaliated," Capital City Police Officer Mohammad Ijaz Khan told The News.

He added three terrorists were killed in the encounter while four others managed to escape. "The slain terrorists were identified as Abdul Wajid alias Usman Ghazi and Muzaffar Shah alias Khalid of rural Peshawar and Mohammad Tariq alias Abdullah of Khyber district. They were members of the IS and were also involved in a number of incidents of target killings in Peshawar in recent months," said the city police chief. He added Abdul Wajid was the one who lured the suicide bomber from his house.

According to the senior officials apart from the suicide attack in Koocha Risaldar, the group was involved in target killing of Hakeem Satnam Singh belonging to Sikh community, religious scholar Sheikh Abdul Hameed, assistant sub-inspector of police Imtiaz Alam, a peace committee member Imranullah and one Mahboobullah. A number of other high profile people have come under attack by the target killers in Peshawar in the last many months.

At least 64 people lost their lives while over 190 others were wounded when a suicide bomber first opened fire on the police guards outside a mosque in Koocha Risaldar and later detonated explosives around his vest inside the hall near the pulpit. Another young man, Asif Ali, who was injured in the blast, lost his battle for life at a hospital on Wednesday.

Soon after the incident, senior police officials hinted at identifying the network behind the biggest terror incidents in Peshawar in the last few years.

A senior official said the suicide bomber was identified as Ihsanullah, a resident of rural town in Peshawar, while the two facilitators were identified as Hassan Shah alias Asad of Khyber and an unknown person only known with his code names, Tariq and Khalid.

Officials said the father of the suicide bomber was taken into protective custody and on his lead the network was busted in Jamrud. The investigators said the family also disclosed the bomber Ihsanullah was a 9th grade student in a private school on Warsak Road when he quit studies and left for training in Afghanistan around 18 months ago.

A press conference of the capital city police officer along with a spokesman of the provincial government scheduled for Wednesday, to share details about killing of three members of the network, had to be cancelled as the details and photos of the bodies of slain terrorists were already viral on social media since Tuesday night. On the other hand even after the information was all over on social media, senior cops remained tight-lipped when approached by the media persons for official words.

An official said the bosses were angry and inquired about the matter in different wings of the police force to find as to how and why sensitive information got leaked on social media many times during the course of investigation that even affected the probe.

Police got significant leads in the case hours after the incident. The CCPO Ijaz Khan a day after the Koocha Risaldar blast told a press conference that the group behind the attack had been identified within hours. He said the family of the suicide bomber as well as the facilitators were identified and the remaining network will be busted soon.

Police and the CTD collected fingerprints of the bomber from the pistol as well as other evidences from the spot to find leads. Besides, the CCTV footage of the area within five kilometres, the phone data and other forensic evidence from the spot helped the investigation teams reach the group behind the attack.