ATTOCK, Aug 1: Fifteen more people, including activists of banned religious militant organizations, have been arrested by law-enforcement agencies from various parts of Attock district, sources said.
These suspects were arrested from Shakardara, Gondal Hazro and Attock. Mohammad Arif, the owner of Arif Tailors near Jammia Masjid Attock city, is still under investigation. He had been picked by the law-enforcement agencies on Saturday morning after police found a sticker of his shop on the shirt of the suicide bomber, the sources said.
They said the customer's record of the tailoring shop had also been seized. More arrests were expected as the police conducted raids till filing of this report, sources said.
Investigation teams led by District Police Officer (DPO) Attock, Capt (retd) Zafar Iqbal Awan visited the tailoring shop and collected the details of a madressah, mosque and orphan house situated adjacent to the shop.
When contacted, the DPO Attock, Capt (retd) Zafar Iqbal Awan told Dawn that under his supervision, three investigation teams were constituted to probe the various aspect of the terrorism attack.
The DPO, who is also eyewitness of the incident, confirmed that about 10 to 15 persons were under investigation, however he refused to disclose the details of the detainees as it would be too earlier till reaching on any conclusion.
The DPO said that sticker of a local tailor was a major clue, which could prove helpful in tracing the bomber's identification. Commenting about the election campaign of Shaukat Aziz, the DPO said that public meeting of Shaukat Aziz would continue as per schedule, however, fool proof security measures would be taken next time with collaboration of other law-enforcement agencies while extra police force would be deployed at the public meetings with modern weapons and equipments to avoid any such type of terrorism act in future.
Soon after the attack, the Attock police with the coordination of sensitive agencies have launched a massive crack down on the religious extremists and other elements throughout the district, the sources said.
Due to the ongoing raids, a large number of activists of banned groups have gone into hiding or shifted to another places, however, the police collecting information about them and madressah besides tracing clues to their hideouts, sources added.
Security agencies also collecting details on another suicide bomber, the 22-year-old Sarfraz Khan, resident of village Shakardara, Attock, who had blown himself in an attack on International Church near American Centre Islamabad on March 17, 2002, killing five people.
He was also identified by the investigation authorities from his coat, that was hanged in the washroom of the church, before the grenades attack on worshippers and his identity further confirmed, when his body parts were sent to the US by FBI for chemical examination and DNA test.
The investigation agencies are also re-examining the bomb blast incident near MRF Colony of Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) Kamra Cantonment in the jurisdiction of police station Saddar Attock on October 20, 2001.