Says investigators close to tracing network behind attacker
Tariq Saeed Peshawar
Though admitting with open heart there was a serious security lapse lading to tragic Peshawar blast that ate up over 100 people mostly men in uniform and seriously wounding 200 others on Monday, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police Inspector General Police Moazzam Jah Ansari dispelled the impression the elements within the force facilitated the suicide bomber.
He brushed aside the conspiracy theories saying the militant who attacked Peshawar mosque was in a police uniform and there was a complete network be hind him.
“We bring justice to others, so how can we surrender our soldiers to these terrorists? “We are not disrespectful; these cops are brave. We have not spared the killer of any martyr,” the IGP observed while addressing a media conference here on Thursday in the back drop of demos by police officials.
In fact the provincial police chief sounded perturbed over an unprecedented protest by the police personnel in Peshawar on Wednesday where the demonstrators claimed the attack to be an ‘inside job’. Similar demonstrations were made in Mardan as well.
Ansari, brushing aside all conspiracy theories that emerged regarding the suicide attack in Peshawar, appealed to the people not to “provoke his force. He also requested the police officers to not fall prey to the conspiracy theories related to the attack.
About the progress made in the probe he said that the suicide bomber entered the Police Lines area on a motorcycle and police have traced his movement from CCTV footage. “Peshawar blast was certainly a suicide attack and we have traced the bomber,” the IGP said adding police have obtained the CCTV footage of bomber’s movement while entering Police Lines on motorcycle cladding in a police uniform,
He said the investigators have also found ball bearings from the blast site and police were closing in on the terror network behind the Peshawar suicide attack. “We have found ball bearings used in a suicide jacket from underneath the rubble of the mosque where10-12 kgs of trinitrotoluene (TNT) was used in the attack,” Ansari maintained.
He said the attacker, who was in a police uniform, had asked about location of a mosque from the constable on the Police Lines gate adding the police have identified the attacker with the help of CCTV footage and the next step in the ongoing probe would be to arrest handlers of the bomber.
“I have seen his face in the CCTV footage and we have crosschecked. The culprit is dressed in a police uniform with a casual jacket. He was wearing a helmet on a motorcycle. We have also traced the bike and we are in the stage of tracing further details,” Ansari said. “My team is close to tracing the network of terrorists behind the attack and we will not spare anybody responsible for this heinous crime and will take them to their logical end”.
