KARACHI: As the Supreme Court seeks a progress report in the deadly bomb attacks on Benazir Bhutto’s convoy near Karsaz, police investigations have not made any headway despite passage of eight years.

The court is expected to take up the matter on Monday.

At least 117 people, including six policemen, were killed and 310, among them 23 police personnel, injured in the twin explosions when the PPP chairperson and former premier arrived in Karachi on Oct 18, 2007 from Dubai after eight years of self exile.

The police investigation report obtained by Dawn on Saturday showed that two ‘suicide bombers’ detonated themselves in Ms Bhutto’s convoy, but failed to ascertain their identity.

Police could not reach a conclusion regarding the involvement of a militant group but speculated involvement of the banned TTP or its chief Baitullah Mehsud with ‘political or jihadi’ motive, while citing Ms Bhutto’s book.

Police investigators believe it was a ‘targeted suicide bombing with definite motive’. The report said that the target had been well-rehearsed.

“The deception plan using the idea of primary and secondary devices was organised to achieve definite and positive result but the tight security and bullet-proof vehicle used by the organisers jeopardised the objective of the terrorist organisation,” said the report.

It added that the suicide bomber had used a ‘manual triggering mechanism’ which was more accurate and could not be jammed by a device.

“It clearly revealed that terrorist organisation was in the knowledge that caravan will be secured with jammers.”

They (terrorists) also had the knowledge that the manual triggering mechanism could not be blocked by electronic signal jammers, it said.

The investigation officer (IO) of the case, then DSP of New Town Nawaz Ranjha, who was later gunned down, interrogated at least 10 suspects belonging to the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LJ), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Afghanistan Taliban. The suspects were identified as Raheemullah, Mohammed Shafiq, Mohammad Nadir and Alam Zeb of the LJ, Farooq Azam and Abdul Samad of the JeM, Mohammed Aziz of Afghan Taliban and Mohammed Shahbaz, Mohammed Shahzad and Khalid Ahmed of the TTP.

The IO also arrested Qari Saifullah Akhtar, affiliated with the Harkatul Jehad al Islami who had earlier been arrested by Punjab police.

The police report said that Qari Saifullah’s interrogation by a joint investigation team had revealed that he was not involved in the case and he was released under Section 497-B of Criminal Procedure Code.

After the assassination of Ms Bhutto in Liaquat Bagh, Rawalpindi, on Dec 27, 2007, police arrested two accused -- Aitzaz Shah and Hasnain Gul -- having links with the Baitullah Mehsud-led TTP.

Citing Ms Bhutto’s book ‘Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy and the West’ in which she had mentioned threats to her life from Baitullah Mehsud, the IO came to the ‘conclusion’ that the two accused ‘might have been involved in this case (Karsaz blast)’, the report said.

However, it noted that the custody of the accused had not been granted to Karachi police by a court in Rawalpindi.

The report said that after registration of the second FIR (213/2008) on the basis of an application of Ms Bhutto, the first FIR (183/2007) registered on behalf of the state had been disposed of as ‘C class’.

Nature of explosions

The report revealed that high explosive material weighing 10-12kg was used by the ‘second suicide bomber’ whereas the ‘first suicide bomber’ had used less explosive but its exact quantity could not be ascertained because both explosions took place in the same vicinity.

The investigators, on the basis of analysis of the crime scene, came to the conclusion that it was a suicide attack, said the report.

The second explosion took place one minute after the first one. Investigators photographed ‘half facial skin with one eye, some hair, skull bone and nose’ at the crime scene.

Motive

The report said the motive of the attack appeared to be ‘political or Jihadi’.

“The likely suspects were Taliban militants fighting the government forces in the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas.”

However, investigators ‘admitted’ that during the course of the whole investigation, ‘no name of a particular political, sectarian or Jihadi group was disclosed but in the light of Benazir’s book, the name of the Baitullah Mehsud group came in’.

After DSP Ranjha’s murder, the case was referred to then SP CID (now CTD), Karachi, Niaz Khoso.

However, after the retirement of Mr Khoso, it is being investigated by CTD Inspector Sajjad Ali.

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2016

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