ISLAMABAD: As many as 15 people allegedly affiliated with militant and banned outfits were arrested during an operation jointly conducted by the capital police and security forces early on Thursday.

Officials close to the development told Dawn on the condition of anonymity that the arrests were made from two houses located at Ghori Town and Shakrial.

The raid was carried out after the suicide attack on Imambargah Qasir-i-Sakina at Shakrial on Wednesday.

The joint raiding team picked 14 suspects from one of the houses. Besides, 25 to 30 SMGs (sub-machineguns) along with hundreds of magazines were recovered from their possession.

On the information collected from the suspects, another house was raided where a suspect was taken into custody. The arrested people were later shifted to an undisclosed location.

The officials said there was a possibility that the suspects were involved in the suicide attack at the worship place.

Sources in the police said the suicide vest of the bomber contained six to seven kilogrammes of explosives attached with ball bearings.

An autopsy on the remains of the bomber at Pims showed that he had died from blast injuries. The suicide attacker’s left hand was blown off from the wrist, indicating that he had used the same hand to detonate the explosive.

Bedsides, his abdomen was ruptured which led to his death, the officials said, adding the bomber also received injuries to his face, chest, hand and a leg.

The sources quoted the medico-legal officer as saying that the bomber seemed to be a Pakistani and there was also a possibility that he hailed from Punjab.

Officials from Nadra also took the fingerprints of the bomber who was said to be 25 to 27 years of age.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2015

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