PESHAWAR: The Peshawar police on Tuesday claimed to have foiled a plan to bomb a school on the first anniversary of the Army Public School (APS) massacre by arresting five suspected terrorists and seizing a 40kg explosive device.

City police’s chief Mubarak Zeb told a news conference at the Malik Saad Shaheed police lines that arrests were made in light of investigation into the reported gas cylinder blast in a mosque in the limits of the Mathara police station two days ago.

He said the investigators had found out that an improvised explosive device had exploded and not a gas cylinder.

The police chief said the police later arrested the mosque’s prayer leader, Qari Kashif, a resident of Ghilachi area in Mathara.

He said the prayer leader told investigators that he and his accomplices living in the area had planned to bomb a Warsak Road school on the first anniversary of the APS attack.

Mr Zeb said on the pointation of the prayer leader, the police raided a house and arrested his accomplices, including Azizul Haq, Aftab, Sher Bahadar and Mohammad Alam, all residents of Mathara.

He said the police also seized two explosive devices both weighing around 40kg, a rocket launcher, four fuses, a shotgun and a pistol.

The police chief said one of the suspects, Aftab, suffered injuries during the blast.

He said the police had formed several teams to arrest the suspects at large.

Also in the day, the counter-terrorism department claimed to have arrested a man over the 2008 kidnapping of 10 Christians on outskirts of Peshawar.

A statement issued here said the suspect, Shaukat, a resident of Saurizai locality, was involved in the kidnapping of 10 Christians from the limits of Pistakhara police station in 2008.

It said the suspect was nabbed in Hazarkhawni village near Ring Road and shifted to an undisclosed location for interrogation.

The statement said the suspect was linked to a banned militant outfit and was wanted for various cases of kidnapping for ransom and extortion.

Published in Dawn, December 16th, 2015