KARACHI, Oct 29: Defence counsel for one of the two alleged Al-Qaeda activists, being tried in the US diplomat killing case, completed on Saturday the cross-examination of the fourth prosecution witness in an anti-terrorism court.
Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of the ATC-5 fixed Nov 2 for recording the statement of other prosecution witnesses after Mushtaq Ahmed, counsel for Usman Ghani, concluded the cross-examination of Sub-inspector Bashir Ahmed, who was earlier cross-examined by Ilyas Khan, counsel for Anwarul Haq.
Accused Ghani and Haq were arrested on Aug 21 for masterminding suicide car bombing to kill a US diplomat.
The prosecution witness, during cross-examination, submitted that he had gone with the first investigation officer of case, Inspector Tariq, to the house of the suicide bomber. He said that the IO had collected the matriculation certificate of the suicide bomber, his two letters and his picture from the house of the suicide bomber.He denied the suggestion of the defence counsel that the father and brother of the alleged suicide bomber were already in the police custody and that the police had not made any raid at the house of the suicide bomber.
Four people were killed on March 2 this year when a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into the diplomat’s vehicle yards away from the US consulate-general.
The blast that took place in a narrow lane between the Marriott Hotel and the Naval Surgery Hospital also left 48 others wounded.
US Consulate official David Foy, his Pakistani driver Iftikhar and Lance Naik Zafar of Rangers were killed instantly.
The body of the suicide bomber, later identified as Mohammed Tahir, was also torn into pieces.
According to investigators, the explosive-laden car had been parked outside the naval establishment. When the convoy carrying the US official appeared, the bomber rammed his vehicle into the bullet-proof car. The five-door vehicle flew up into the air before landing across a concrete barrier on the pavement of the hotel.
The windowpanes of the hotel were shattered by splinters hitting several guests. The concrete wall of the naval establishment was partially damaged as was the rear portion of the hotel. At least 14 vehicles were also destroyed in the blast.
The investigation of the case was assigned to Inspector Tariq who got a tip-off about the identity of the suicide bomber in August.
According to the charge-sheet, a man gave the information to the investigator officer that Mohammed Tahir, son of Raja Afzal, had left his Landhi house on March 2 after Fajr prayers and later his family was informed of his martyrdom. On Aug 15, the investigation officer visited the house of the suicide bomber and recorded the statement of his father.
Raja Afzal told the investigator that his son had gone to Afghanistan for jihad thrice and he had also been imprisoned in Afghanistan.
He said his son did not return home since he left after Fajr prayer on March 2. The father of the suicide bomber told the IO that a lame man visited his house three times after the disappearance of his son and gave him Rs5,000, Rs8,000 and Rs10,000 during his three visits.
Raja Afzal also told the investigator that the same man contacted another son of his, Idrees, who is a student at the Binori Town Madrassah, in July to tell him that Tahir had died.
On Aug 18, the investigation officer recorded the statement of Idrees, who also supported the statement of his father.
The brother of the suicide bomber told the IO that he knew one of his brother’s friends, Usman, who had brought his letter to the family from Afghanistan during his detention there.
