Closing in on terror network behind Peshawar mosque suicide blast: KP police chief

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) Police Chief Moazzam Jah Ansari said on Thursday that the police was “closing in” on the terror network behind the suicide attack on a mosque in the Peshawar Police Lines area.

During a presser, he said the police had found ball bearing from the blast site in a suicide jacket from underneath the rubble of the mosque.

“This was a suicide bomber and we have traced him. The CCTV footage showed his movement from Khyber Road to the Police Lines and how he parked his motorcycle on a side,” he said, adding that the bomber was wearing a police uniform.

On Monday, a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a crowded mosque next to the Police Lines in Peshawar, in a highly fortified security compound, the latest in a string of attacks targeting police.

Ansari said that the attacker entered from the main gate and talked to a constable and asked him where the mosque was.

“This means that the attacker was not aware of the area..he was given a target and there is an entire network behind him … he was not a lone ranger.”

He said that policemen at entrance of the Police Lines did not check the attacker because “they thought he was their own”.

Ansari revealed that 10-12kg of TNT, an high explosive, was used in the blast.

“The explosion was so powerful that the shockwaves did not find ways to escape hence forcing the roof of the mosque to collapse,” he said.

He added that the mosque also lacked pillars and everyone in the mosque at the time of the attack came under roof debris.

The police chief said that the police had raised their voice against the attack to “take revenge for each and every martyr”.

“The sacrifices of the policemen will not go in vain.”

On Wednesday, Peshawar Police Chief Ijaz Khan said that major arrests have been made and police are investigating how the suicide bomber entered the highly-secured police area, and “could not rule out internal assistance to carry out the attack”.

“We have found some excellent clues, and based on these clues we have made some major arrests,” he said.

“We can’t rule out internal assistance but since the investigation is still in progress, I will not be able to share more details,” he added.