PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General of Police Moazzam Jah Ansari on Thursday said that suicide bomber involved in Peshawar mosque blast had been identified and the police “closing in” on the terror network behind this attack.

Ansari vowed retribution for each and every police officer martyred in the suicide attack in the Peshawar Police Lines mosque.

Briefing media about the progress in the Peshawar blast probe in Peshawar, the KP police chief said that suicide bomber was in police uniform, riding a bike and wearing helmet and facemask. Because of wearing a police uniform, he had found smooth access to the mosque, KP IGP said.

The IG said some elements were misleading police by advancing conspiracy theories which was totally unacceptable.

The provincial police chief said there was no drone attack as claimed by some elements.

Police will never let the sacrifices rendered by their officials go wasted and the culprits will be held accountable for every drop of blood they had spilled, he added.

“We found ball bearings used in a suicide jacket from underneath the rubble of the mosque on Wednesday.”

This was a suicide bomber and we have traced him, he said.

We have obtained the CCTV footage of his movement from Khyber Road to the Police Lines, then how he parked his motorcycle on a side.

He also confirmed that the severed head that the police found from the blast site was of the attacker.

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

“At 12:37 pm, he [the attacker] entered the main gate on a motorcycle, came inside, 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,” KP IGP said.

Ansari went on to say that the police have traced the attacker’s motorcycle as well.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023