SAHIWAL, Feb 25: Police claimed on Sunday to have identified the mastermind of the Saturday bomb blast in Chichawatni in which three people had died when the explosives they were carrying on a bicycle went off accidentally.

Police learnt that Qari Aneesur Rehman, the alleged mastermind of the blast, was seen with the three killed bombers at the funeral prayer of Rana Saeed, a police official who was kidnapped and killed last week.

Police said that Anees had planned to kill police officials at the Qul of the late Saeed. Anees had murdered Sheikh Barkat and his nephew in Chichawatni in 1994 but evaded capital punishment after managing a compromise with the bereaved family.

Police are raiding to arrest Abdul Jalil, the chief of the Azizul Aloom, and Anees. Police registered cases against Maqsood, Adeel and Akhtar who died on Saturday when a bomb in their possession exploded when their bicycle hit a road bump.

Multan correspondent adds: Police arrested the fourth member of the Chichawatni bombers. Sources said the fourth was also the student of Azizul Aloom and roommate of Akhtar and Adeel who died in the blast. The accused whose name could not be ascertained is from Chichawatni.

Police have arrested 15 activists of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and Sipah-i-Sahaba on Sunday. Maulana Alam Tariq, brother of slain Maulana Azam Tariq, Maulana Habibur Rehman, Qari Sultan Ahmed Raheemi, Qari Saeed Ahmed Raheemi, Maulana Ahmed Usman Mehmood and Maulana Ghulam Hassan, all teachers of the seminary, and 40 students were arrested.

Sources said that Tariq told the police that he had returned from abroad a few days ago while police believed he was in Afghanistan.

Mirza Muhammad Ali, Multan regional police officer, told Dawn that police were investigating the matter and Tariq was in police custody.

He said the late Saeed was not involved in any police operation against the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and Sipah-e-Sahaba. He said that he believed that police officials attending the Qul of the slain SHO could be the target of accused bombers.

He said that he was in touch with the Punjab inspector general of police

And that security had been tightened in the Multan range.