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| May 29, 2005 | Sunday | Rabi-us-Sani 20, 1426 |
‘Chemical device used in shrine bomb blast’
RAWALPINDI, May 28: A high-powered ‘chemical explosive device’ with detonator was used in the Bari Imam shrine suicide attack which left at least 20 people dead and nearly 100 injured on Friday, sources told Dawn on Saturday. The chemical used in the blast was similar to that used in the Marriot Hotel explosion on Oct 28, 2004, the sources said.
Army experts and a joint investigation team had collected some samples of blood clots and skin pieces from the scene of the attack.
But since they were unable to trace any bomb particle from the site, the experts concluded that a chemical device had been used, the sources said.
They said blood, muscle and skin tissue samples of the suspected suicide bomber had been sent for DNA tests.
They said six of the bodies were yet to be identified.
The joint investigation team comprising officials of the Federal Investigation Agency’s Special Investigation Group, the Punjab Crime Investigation department and Islamabad police had been unable to start formal investigation into the attack and select their line of action, they said.
The FIR of the incident was registered by Islamabad police on Saturday night under the Anti-terrorism Act.
The investigation suffered a set back on Saturday as the parents of the man whose sketch had been released on Friday night, with announcement of a reward for his identification, approached police and claimed the body of their son.
A police official confirmed that the parents of the man, Mohsin Ali, had arrived from Haripur to claim his body. Mohsin Ali, son of Mushtaq Hussain, was among the devotees attending the Majlis when a bearded man walked up to the stage and blew himself up. He was a first year student in Haripur college.
The interrogation team was preparing to release another sketch of the suspected bomber, the sources said.
A police team on Friday night recorded the statement of the injured at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences. Four of the injured are children.
The investigation team has been directed by the interior ministry’s Crises Management Cell to submit a progress report daily, the sources said.
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