SUKKUR: Police produced before media on Thursday two suspected members of Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and claimed they were involved in the deadly suicide bomb attack on a Muharram procession in Jacobabad on Oct 23 last year in which 28 people, including 17 children, were killed and 48 others were injured.

The government had announced a reward of Rs100 million cash for the arrest of the culprits behind the suicide attack.

Larkana police range DIG Abdullah Shaikh, accompanied by the members of the inquiry team, told a press conference at SSP office in Jacobabad that police found five kilogrammes of explosive material, two hand grenades, three TT pistols and their rounds in the possession of the suspects.

He said the investigators had learnt at the preliminary stage of the probe that the suspects Muhammad Ibrahim Badini and Abdul Basit Kharani who had confessed to their crime before police had facilitated terrorists, arranged for their food, lodging and even carried out reconnaissance of the target area.

The DIG said the suicide attack was planned at a meeting at Madressa Hussainia Ibne Ameer Muaavia in Quetta in 2014 and its mastermind was Moulvi Zahoor aka Sanaullah and aka Farooqi.

Qari Ataullah aka Rehmani, Abdul Khaliq aka Moulvi Manzoor, Aslam aka Shah Jee, Kamran Kharani aka Farooqi, Basit Kharani, Saadullah Sadiq and Ibrahim Badini attended the meeting.

At the second meeting held in 2015 Moulvi Zahoor introduced Abdulllah alias Habibullah Brohi as suicide bomber and five days before the attack he brought him to Jacobabad in his vehicle along with suicide jacket and handed him over to Farooqi, Kharani and Badini, he said.

He said the bomber was kept for a day at the autaq of Kharani and was later shifted to Badini’s house. Before the attack, a final meeting was held between Farooqi, Kharani and Badini after which the bomber was brought to the target area in Lashari Muhalla where he blew himself up, he said.

He said that all the culprits involved in the attack belonged to Lashkar-i-Jhangvi. Police would soon produce the rest of the culprits including the mastermind before media, he said.

He said the three suspects involved in the blast including Farooqi, Badini and Kharani were residents of Jacobabad, the bomber, Qari Sanaullah, Moulvi Zubair and Saadullah aka Sadiq belonged to Quetta, Qari Attaullah lived in Sukkur and Aslam Shah belonged to Kank Mastung.

The suspects whose faces remained covered throughout the press conference were not allowed to talk to media men.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2016