PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa counter-terrorism department on Friday said it had arrested two would-be suicide bombers, who planned to attack Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl emir Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Awami National Party provincial president Aimal Wali Khan.

The detainees belong to the militant group Islamic State’s regional affiliate, Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), according to CTD SSP (operations) Najmul Hasnain Liaquat.

“We have foiled a major bid of terrorism by arresting two would-be suicide bombers in separate intelligence-based operations in the provincial capital. Two suicide vests, three hand grenades and pistols were also seized at their pointation,” Mr Liaquat told a presser here.

On Dec 29 last year, the interior ministry warned that there were serious threats to the lives of the JUI-F chief and ANP’s KP president, so the provincial government should exercise extreme caution and vigilance and make necessary security arrangements at the houses of the two leaders as well as during their movement and in public gatherings” to avert any untoward incident.

CTD official insists detainees had planned to attack Fazl, Aimal

The CTD SSP said that the IBOs were conducted after intelligence reports revealed that the ISKP was dispatching would-be suicide bombers to the provincial capital to target the JUI-F chief and ANP’s KP president.

He said that the CTD took would-be suicide bomber Adil Khan into custody during a raid in Mattani Mera area on the southern fringes of the provincial capital.

Mr Liaquat said that a hand grenade and a 9mm pistol were also recovered from a bag carried by the militant, who belonged to the Azizkhel area in Mattani.

He said that the pointation of the detainee led to the arrest of another militant, Tahir Khan, a resident of Landi Kotal area in Khyber tribal district, in Achini village on the outskirts of the provincial capital.

The SSP said that the CTD also seized pages of ISKP’s magazine Al-Azaim that were buried in the ground, two hand grenades as well as two suicide vests in the vicinity of Achini, which was located near Khyber district.

He said that the two militants had confessed to planning to attack JUI-F emir Maulana Fazlur Rehman and ANP KP president Aimal Wali Khan in suicide attacks.

Mr Liaquat revealed that the detainees did a recce of the JUI-F’s provincial headquarters Mufti Mahmood Markaz in the Ring Road area of the provincial capital.

He said that the two wound-be suicide bombers identified their accomplices, who, according to them, were currently hiding in Peshawar and Khyber districts.

“Our special teams are on the lookout for them [accomplices],” he said.

The SSP said that the detained militants - members of the ISKP – underwent the suicide bombing training at the militant outfit’s training camp in the Paktia province of Afghanistan.

He said that both militants were firearm experts and knew the use of all kinds of weapons.

Mr Liaquat said that militant Tahir Khan was wanted by the CTD over involvement in several incidents of terrorism.

Published in Dawn, January 13th, 2024