ISLAMABAD: The city police have arrested ‘a key terrorist,’ who is suspected of involvement in the slaying of PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto and Polish engineer Piotr Stanczak, sources told Dawn.

Attaullah Khan, 24, was produced in an anti-terrorism court on Thursday following his overnight arrest, and the judge remanded him in the custody of Sabzi Mandi police for five days.

A senior police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed the arrest that was made at a checkpoint in the Sabzi Mandi area Wednesday night. He gave no further details.

The sources said four other suspects escaped from the scene despite the presence of local police, Anti-Terrorist Squad and anti-riot unit.

Two hand grenades, a magazine and dozens of bullets for sub machine-gun were recovered from Attaullah. The ammunition is the same used in weapons commonly carried by Islamabad police and Frontier Constabulary personnel.

According to the sources, Attaullah belonged to Kohat. He is believed to be affiliated with the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan’s section linked with Al-Qaeda. Attaullah is also an important member of the Commander Tariq Farooqi group.

In recent days, intelligence agencies, while tracing some calls, came to know that a group of five terrorists, including suicide attackers, were planning to enter the capital after arriving in Kohat from the tribal areas, the sources said.

The information was forwarded to law-enforcement authorities at the weekend, after which special checkpoints were set up at Islamabad Chowk, Jalal Adda, Pirwadhai Mor and Tarnol Mor.

Security personnel deployed at the Jalal Adda spotted the group and tried to arrest them, but managed to catch only one.

A police officer claimed that during preliminary interrogation, the alleged terrorist confessed to his involvement in the killing of Polish engineer Piotr Stanczak, 42, who was kidnapped on September 28, 2008, in Attock district and later a seven-minute video of his beheading was released in February. The officer said the arrested terrorist was shown in the video, but his face was covered with a mask.

He said the alleged terrorist was also involved in plotting suicide attacks, including the one on the house of Pakistan Army’s General Officer Commanding (GOC) Kohat.

The accused identified the attacker as Bilal. The police officer claimed that the accused was also wanted in the assassination of Ms Bhutto. Besides, he had information about the terrorist network involved in the attack on Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore.

Court grants remand

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Rawalpindi Wednesday remanded Attaullah in the custody of Sabzi Mandi police for five days.

ATC No. II Judge Baqir Ali Rana granted the remand as investigators sought time to interrogate him about his accomplices.

Police claimed that revelations about suicide attacks in the federal capital were expected to come from the suspect during interrogation.

Separately, the court extended the judicial remand of nine other suspected terrorists in three different cases of suicide blasts in Islamabad.

The ATC judge extended the judicial remand of Mohammad Ilyas alias Qari Jamil, a resident of Chakwal, till July 22. Ilyas was taken into custody by the Aabpara police two weeks ago in connection with the last July’s suicide attack near Melody Market that killed at least 15 policemen.

Kohsar police station SHO sought more time from the court to complete interrogation of an accused, Faisal Ahmed Khan from Bhakar, who was arrested on July one for his alleged role in the blast at Luna Caprese, an Italian restaurant near Super Market, on March 15 last year. The blast killed a Turkish woman and injured 12 foreign diplomats and journalists. The ATC judge extended Faisal’s remand till July 22.

In another case, the court extended the remand of eight accused till July 22. The suspects were believed to be involved in the bomb blast outside the Danish embassy last June.

Mohammad Ilyas alias Qari Jamil of Chakwal, Dr Abdul Razzaq of Lahore, Faisal Ahmed Khan of Bhakar; Mohammad Rizwan alias Shamasul Haq, Zeeshan Jalil alias Khizar, and Mohammad Sarfaraz alias Mohammad Khan of Karachi; Mohammad Naeem Shakir alias Zubair of Sheikhupura and Mohammad Nadeem alias Babu Salahuddin of Rawalpindi were being investigated by the Kohsar police.