ISLAMABAD, July 5: The suicide bomber, who killed 20 people and injured nearly 100 by blowing himself up at Bari Imam shrine on May 27, has been identified by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probing the bloodiest terror attack in Islamabad’s history.
Senior Superintendent of Police Capt (retired) Liaquat Ali Khan told a press conference here on Tuesday that the bomber “belonged to a high-profile network which has roots throughout the country” but he refused to disclose his identity. “It is not in the national interest to disclose the identity of the accused at the moment,” the SSP said.
Asked if the suicide bomber belonged to any banned religious group, he said “it is a possibility”. The police was “working on other aspects also”, he added without elaborating.
The official said revealing any information about the suicide bomber would affect the ongoing investigations.
Though, he confirmed that security agencies had arrested many suspects from Islamabad, Karachi, Peshawar, Malakand, Multan and Lahore, he identified only one of them, Tahseen, who was picked up in Karachi. The JIT had easy access to all the suspects, he said.
Asked how helpful had the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) proved in the JIT investigations into the Bari Imam suicide attack case, the SSP said “zero”.
The police had collected much evidence and was close to solving the case, he said.
CAR-LIFTERS GANG BUSTED: Earlier, the SSP disclosed that the police had busted a gang of car thieves, who used to lift cars from Blue Area.
The police arrested Hasan,
a resident of Rawalpindi
holding an engineering degree from UK, on charges of
car-lifting. The police are hunting for the accused accomplice Iftikhar.
During the investigation, the accused confessed to have stolen around 40 vehicles from Islamabad and disposed them of in NWFP on an amount of 35,000 to 50,000 each.
When the SSP was asked how many vehicles out of the 40 had been recovered by the police and handed over to their owners, he replied “apparently none”.
He said the police had been struggling to bring the stolen vehicles back from NWFP following disclosure by the accused.
The SSP said Hassan married to a girl in Mardan and after marriage he used to live in the city. “He was taken to Mardan during remand where he pointed out the persons who had purchased stolen cars.”
The SSP also disclosed that during fresh combing, which started on Sunday, the police arrested 42 proclaimed offenders, 64 court absconders and eight army deserter.
During last three days, the police also recovered 339kg of charas, 5kg of heroin, 50kg of opium and 2,130 bottles of liquor.
