PESHAWAR, Nov 21: A local anti-terrorism court on Wednesday referred a suspected teenage suicide bomber to a local hospital for determination of age and ordered police to produce him again today (Thursday).

Police produced the suspect, a resident of Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency, before Judge Ibrahim Khan under tight security.

The boy, who was arrested a day ago in Sarband area for wearing a suicide vest, was brought to the court on Khyber Road in an armoured personnel carrier. No one, including journalists, were permitted to enter the court.

According to an official of the court, the police personnel accompanying the boy requested the court to grant them his physical custody for investigation.

The judge observed that apparently, the boy was a juvenile.

The court ordered the medical superintendent of Lady Reading Hospital to conduct his medical examination to ascertain his age. According to police, the boy is around 13.

He was arrested on Tuesday along with his alleged handler, Jehangir, who is around 20 and has reportedly told police that he was a schoolteacher.

Jehangir was not produced before the court by police.

Some private television channels had aired footage on Tuesday night showing an official of the bomb disposal squad removing the suicide vest strapped to the body of the boy.

Opinion

Editorial

Punishing evaders
02 May, 2024

Punishing evaders

THE FBR’s decision to block mobile phone connections of more than half a million individuals who did not file...
Engaging Riyadh
02 May, 2024

Engaging Riyadh

OVER the last few weeks, there have been several exchanges involving top officials and their Saudi counterparts. At...
Freedom to question
02 May, 2024

Freedom to question

WITH frequently suspended freedoms, increasing violence and few to speak out for the oppressed, it is unlikely that...
Wheat protests
Updated 01 May, 2024

Wheat protests

The government should withdraw from the wheat trade gradually, replacing the existing market support mechanism with an effective new one over the next several years.
Polio drive
01 May, 2024

Polio drive

THE year’s fourth polio drive has kicked off across Pakistan, with the aim to immunise more than 24m children ...
Workers’ struggle
Updated 01 May, 2024

Workers’ struggle

Yet the struggle to secure a living wage — and decent working conditions — for the toiling masses must continue.