TAXILA: Officials of law enforcement agencies and police are trying to unscramble a code which was found scribbled on a piece of paper recovered from the pocket of a suicide bomber.

The man got off a bus and blew himself up with a hand grenade when the bus was stopped at a police picket on Grand Trunk (GT) Road near Mughal Garden, Wah, on Monday. The piece of paper with the number 21110 written on it was recovered from him along with Rs7,000 in cash, a pair of sunglasses and two pieces of clothing.

A police investigator told Dawn that officials from different agencies have joined hands with police to crack this code.

They believe that this number could be a code for a possible target - a place or a person. The investigator said that the officials are trying to solve the mystery with the help of information which has already been gathered from terrorists in police custody.

Moreover, police have identified the bomber as Mohammad Asif, and traced his village in Fatehjang tehsil of Attock district.

Police sources said some of his family members had been picked up and shifted to an undisclosed location for interrogation. Police are also interrogating the bus driver, a resident of Charsadda, and his Afghan assistant.

Wah Saddar police have registered a case against the bomber and the officials who foiled the terrorist attack - Sub-Inspector Ashraf, Assistant Superintendent Babar, Head Constable Zaffar Iqbal, Constable Amjad and Constable Mukhtar - were nominated for gallantry awards.

Published in Dawn January 22nd , 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play