The gang members had close links with Waziristan militants and had kidnapped the Polish engineer, said an official. — Photo by APP

According to a senior official, the gang was headed by Akram Saeed, a prayer leader at a mosque in Pindsultani village, Jand tehsil.

Mohammad Aslam Tareen, RPO, told a press conference on Monday that Akram was also a caretaker of a madressah in the area and got bomb-making training etc at militants' camps in Afghanistan.

He said the gang members had close links with Waziristan militants and had kidnapped the Polish engineer on Sept 28 after killing his two security guards and driver.

The engineer, who was working in Attock for a Polish survey company searching for natural gas, was beheaded by Taliban in Darra Adamkhel.

The police officer said terrorists were running Taliban's Attock district chapter.

He said police seized two suicide jackets containing 12 kilograms of explosives, a remote-control bomb, two kilograms of gunpowder, three batteries, a timer device, 42 detonators, plastic bomb-making equipment, two 12-bore rifles and a pistol.

The arms and ammunition were shown to journalists. Mr Tareen identified other members of the gang as Mohammad Naseem, Mohammad Shahid and Tariq Ismail.

He said a police team, led by DPO Raja, got a clue about the gang while investigating the death of a terrorist on Feb 7 while he was planting a bomb at a CD market in Rangli village.

The team, with the help of his picture, succeeded in identifying the terrorist as Mudassir Saeed, a resident of Pindsultani village.

The man was also involved in the Jan 26 bombing of some CD shops in Jand area. He said the gang members were planning to target some important national installations.

The police officer requested the Punjab government to award medals and prizes to all members of the investigating team.