PESHAWAR, April 30: Police investigating Saturday’s suicide bombing in Charsadda have revised the previous identification of the suicide bomber, saying that the prime suspect now is a teenager or a man in his early twenties.
The investigators had earlier speculated that the bomber was in his late thirties. The suicide bomber, whose target was Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao, left more than 30 people dead and over 50 others wounded.
The investigators also said they had discovered a severed head about 40 metres from the scene of the tragedy.
Akram Durrani, the NWFP chief minister, underlined the gravity of the situation by calling upon the federal government to redeploy FC contingents to the province.
Talking to journalists after inaugurating a road construction work, Mr Durrani said the involvement of a ‘foreign hand’ cannot be ruled out.
A senior police investigator said the latest finding added to Saturday’s bombing an element common to previous incidents ---the young age of the bombers.
Police officials told Dawn that the previous prime suspect had pellets pierced into his body --- something unusual as the blast would throw pellets and shrapnel outwardly, and not inwardly.
“There were no burn marks on his face or body,” an official said about the previous suspect. The head found on Saturday showed the face had been partially burnt.
He said the face of the teenager had been reconstructed with the help of a forensic laboratory. “He is fair and has jet black hair,” the official said, adding that the government might release an identikit to the media on Tuesday if the police were unable to establish his identity.
One police official claimed investigators had received ‘some important leads’, but declined to elaborate. “But all indications show that the modus operandi was similar to other suicide bombing cases, the trail of which led mostly to South Waziristan.”
VEST: Fayaz Torou, an additional inspector general of police, told a television network that a six-kilogramme explosive vest had been strapped around the bomber’s body --- twice the norm.
He also said the explosives used in the bombing were of Russian make, called MUV2 which have lead pens attached.
Mr Toru said the explosion was triggered either by removing the pens or by pushing a button wired to the explosives.
