PESHAWAR: The counter terrorism department on Wednesday claimed to have arrested the main accused, an Afghan national, over the Monday bomb blast near the entrances to the Peshawar High Court and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.

The Justice Rustam Kiyani Road blast had injured 11 people, including a police official, and damaged 22 vehicles.

CTD DIG Tahir Ayub told reporters at the Malik Saad Shaheed Police Lines that initial investigations into the blast led to the arrest of the prime accused, Ikramullah.

Accompanied by spokesman for the government Ajmal Wazir, capital city police officer Mohammad Ali Gandapur and SSP (operations) Zahoor Babar Afridi, Mr Ayub said the accused, who belonged to Serkano area in Afghan province of Kunar, was taken into custody with the help of security forces and intelligence agencies.

He said the accused carried out the bomb blast at the behest of a commander of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan based in Afghanistan.

“The TTP commander had paid a huge sum of money to the accused to carry out the bomb blast,” he said.

The CTD official said the accused came to Pakistan via Chaman border in Balochistan and travelled to Peshawar to do a recce of the area and returned to Afghanistan, while he used the same border on Dec 12 to come to Pakistan.

He said the accused stayed in a hotel near Haji Camp bus stand in Peshawar and went to the high court area in a rickshaw from Hashtangri area on Dec 16.

Mr Ayub said the accused met his accomplice near the high court building after making a call and went back to Hashtangri in the same rickshaw telling the accomplice that he would send him some goods by the same rickshaw.

He said he used the rickshaw to return to Hashtnagri and handed over two cartons to the driver with a phone number for their delivery.

The official said the driver after reaching the court gate got out of the rickshaw to call the other accomplice but in the meanwhile, the explosives placed in the cartons went off.

He said the accused disguised himself as a lawyer wearing white shalwar kameez and black coat.

Government spokesman Ajmal Wazir blamed the nexus of Afghan and Indian intelligence agencies for the blast and said Dec 16 was chosen for the terrorist activity as it was the day to mourn the martyred students of Army Public School, Peshawar.

He said the law-enforcement agencies had acted promptly to arrest the accused.

The spokesman said the government was committed to eliminating the scourge of terrorism from the country.

Mr Ayub said the counter terrorism department was working to arrest the other accomplice of the accused.

He said the accused was an explosive expert and made explosives from ordinary items.

City police chief Mohammad Ali Gandapur said the police were on high alert on Dec 16 and had made detailed security arrangements to ensure peace in the city.

The police also claimed that they also recovered a mobile phone, Rs29,100 and $100 notes and two Afghan identity cards.

Published in Dawn, December 19th, 2019