QUETTA: Security officials have killed the mastermind of the Aug 8 Quetta Civil Hospital suicide attack, Jahangir Badeni alias Ameer Sahab, in a pre-dawn search operation in the Huramzai area of Pishin district, Balochistan Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Ahmed Bugti said on Monday.

He said two Levies officials had been injured in an exchange of fire with the militants.

The suicide bomber who had blown himself up in front of the hospital’s emergency ward on Aug 8 was identified as Ahmed Ali. Over 74 people, including 57 lawyers, were killed in the suicide attack.

Addressing a press conference, Mr Bugti denied the presence of Daesh, the Arabic name for the militant Islamic State group, in Balochistan and insisted that the militant organisation behind the attack was connected to the Indian intelligence agency, RAW, and Afghan­istan’s National Directorate of Security.

The home minister said Frontier Corps, police, Levies and intelligence agency personnel had conducted the search operation on a tip-off. They cordoned off a compound the militants were using as a hideout after which a heavy gun battle took place for an hour. Security officials also confiscated a sizeable cache of arms, explosives and ammunition, he said.

Mr Bugti said the suicide bomber had been identified through a DNA test a few days ago. His name was Ahmed Ali, son of Sajjad Ali, a resident of Killi Dehba, Quetta. The killings of the principal of Law College University Quetta, Barrister Amanullah Achakzai, SHO Sariab Mushtaq Ahmed and four Hazara women in Muharram were also traced to Jahangir Badeni.

Published in Dawn December 6th, 2016