PESHAWAR: Police claim to have busted a Tehrik-i-Taliban (TTP) terrorist network which was assigned the task of targeting politicians during the 2013 elections.
They have arrested six suspected terrorists along with a woman and seized a suicide jacket, hand grenades and more than 70 kilograms of explosives and materials being used for IED and explosives jackets.
Station House Officer of Chamkani Police station Haji Abdul Hameed speaking to Dawn.Com said that the police arrested the suspects, during a raid on a house in the Tarnab Farms area of the city outskirts.
“We have seized an eight kilograms suicide jacket ready for use, three hand grenades, IED making accessories and about 70 kilograms of explosives,” he stated.
The arrested accused have been identified as Rohullah, Asadullah Irfanullah, Kashti Gul and Ishfaq Hussain. The latter individual was the main explosive supplier to the gang.
“Ishfaq has admitted that they had links to the TTP in South Waziristan Agency and were carrying out attacks on its directive,” he said.
Ishfaq Hussain, who was presented along with the other accused before the media, admitted on the occasion that they were involved in attacks on former minister and ANP candidate Arbab Ayub Jan and also the election office of NA-46 candidate in Maqsoodabad area of Peshawar.
Another arrested accused Rohullah on the occasion said that they had links to the TTP and had carried out attacks on their directive.
He however remained silent when asked what their next target was and what their future plans had been.
Three of the arrested accused were teenagers and appear to have been on an unknown mission, which is what the explosives and IEDs were being prepared for.
Police said they had also seized hand grenades, fuses, wires, batteries and remote controlled devices from the house and were conducting further investigations.
The arrested woman, Munfajara, said she is the mother of Irfanullah, Kashtir Gul, Rohullah and Asadullah, adding “my son Rohullah had been blackmailed by someone and fraudulently handed over the material to him.”
She said that her son Irfanullah is a student of class 8, Asadullah is a 2nd year student while Rohullah and Kastir Gul are also innocent.
"We have nothing to do with the explosive material," she said.
Rohullah later also claimed that all the material had been handed over to him by Ishfaq Hussain to keep at home and that he had been paid Rs1000 for the task.
He also admitted another person named Basit, has confirmed that he had carried out the attack on Arbab Ayub Jan’s vehicle.
