Peshawar: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General of Police Moazzam Jah Ansari has said that suicide bomber involved in Peshawar mosque blast had been identified and the police were closing in on the terror network behind this attack. Addressing a news conference in Peshawar on Thursday, the provincial police chief said that suicide bomber was in police uniform, riding a bike and wearing helmet and facemask. Because of wearing police uniform, he had found smooth access to the mosque, he said.
He said the entire police department was in shock and grief. The IG said some elements were misleading police by advancing conspiracy theories which was totally unacceptable. He further said people who were misleading cops and trying to incite them on violence and come on roads and protest, will be dealt with sternly. He said there was no drone attack as claimed by some elements. Moazzam Jah said the whole world saw that the roof was in one piece after it caved in which negated claims of a drone attack.
He said he had been very busy in last three days and had only three hours sleep due to his hectic busy schedule. Ansari said police will never let the sacrifices rendered by their officials go wasted and the culprits will be held accountable for every drop of blood they had spilled. Ansari said that the police had found ball bearings from the blast site. “We found ball bearings used in a suicide jacket from underneath the rubble [of the mosque] yesterday.
“This was a suicide bomber and we have traced him. We have obtained the CCTV footage of his movement from Khyber Road to the Police Lines, then how he parked his motorcycle on a side. He was in a police uniform and was wearing a mask and a helmet,” the officer revealed. He also confirmed that severed head that the police found from the blast site was of the attacker. Ansari said that policemen at entrance of the Police Lines did not “check the attacker because they thought he was their own”.
“At 12:37pm, he [the attacker] entered the main gate on a motorcycle, came inside, talked to a constable and asked him where the mosque was, this means that the attacker was not aware of the area, he was given a target and there is an entire network behind him, he was not a lone ranger,” Ansari said. He went on to say that the police have traced the attacker’s motorcycle as well.