September 10, 2007	Monday	Sha'aban 27, 1428

PESHAWAR, Sept 9: Police are investigating a car bomb blast occurred outside a bank in the cantonment area on Saturday which injured 24 persons and partially damaged eight vehicles.

“We have got the footage recorded through a camera installed at the building. We are working with other law-enforcement agencies to reach a conclusion,” said Mohammad Tahir Khan, SSP (Operations), Peshawar.

He said that it would be premature to say something concrete about the explosion. “We are collecting evidences. Traders and shopkeepers are being advised to keep vigil on the movements of suspected persons.”

Police had on 27 July arrested three persons who, police sources said, were members of a terrorist gang allegedly involved in a series of bomb blasts in the city. They were arrested on the information provided by the Intelligence Bureau.

City Police Chief Abdul Majeed Marwat said the arrested terrorists had been involved in various blasts in the city over the last few months. He identified them as gang leader Ayaz, Bahadar and Imtiaz. A car, a motorbike and two kilograms of explosives were recovered from their possession.

The police sources said that during the investigation, the accused had accepted the responsibility for a bomb blast at a bus stand.

Police on July 15 found an explosive-laden car near the Green Wedding Hall -- the site of Saturday’s blast.They said that Ayaz had denied involvement in a car bomb blast near the Peshawar High Court last month in which one person was killed, but an eyewitness, who saw him parking the car, had identified him.

The sources said the accused had confessed that they had been promised $20,000 for each sabotage activity in the city, but so far they had received only $600. Ayaz told the investigators that the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan was paying the money for terrorist activities inside Pakistan. The investigators say that the accused use “British pencil time-delaying device” in the blasts.

The accused, the sources said, had allegedly taken photographs of the State Bank building, Green Wedding Hall, City Tower, State Life building and Bilour Plaza in Peshawar. “They have told the investigators that these pictures were sent abroad for approval as future targets,” the sources said.

“Police have already foiled an attempt to blow up the Green Wedding Hall which was one of the prime targets of these terrorists,” a police officer said.

The investigators said they could have reached most of the terrorists, but non-cooperation by cellular phone companies had hampered their efforts.

Same is the case with the National Database Registration Authority which is reluctant to cooperate with police in tracing criminals. “We often request NADRA and cell-phone companies to trace CNIC and mobile numbers of the suspects, but we get cold-shoulder response,” said an investigator.

“With the help of cellular phone companies, we can foil at least 50 per cent of the crime,” he said, adding: “They (NADRA and cellular phone companies) ask us to contact them through the country’s top intelligence agency.”