Peshawar mosque attack ‘main handler’ among three killed in Pakistan

PTI, Mar 10, 2022, 4:48 PM IST

Pakistani security forces have shot dead the ”main handler” of the deadly suicide bombing at a Shia mosque in Peshawar and his two accomplices, who were reportedly also behind the killing of a Sikh medicine practitioner in the northwestern city, according to a media report on Thursday.

At least 64 people were killed and nearly 200 others injured in the suicide bombing inside the mosque in Qissa Khwani bazaar in Peshawar during Friday prayers last week, which was claimed by the Islamic State-Khorasan terror group.

Officials said personnel of the Counter-Terrorism Department, police and intelligence agencies raided a house in the Ghu­reza area of Jamrud tehsil on Tuesday night. They said a terrorist present inside the house opened fire on law enforcement personnel.

Muhammad Tariq alias Khalid – the ”main handler” of the suicide bombing at the Koocha Risaldar mosque – Abdul Wajid, and Muzaffar Shah were killed in the return fire, Dawn newspaper reported, quoting an official.

”In the exchange of fire, the three terrorists were killed while four others, including two handlers, managed to escape,” the official said.

The police said the terrorist group was also involved in the killing of Sikh hakeem (medicine practitioner) Sardar Satnam Singh in September last year. Singh was shot dead in his clinic on Charsadda Road in Peshawar.

According to investigative agencies, Ihsanullah alias Abdullah, an Afghan national living in Aabshar Colony of the provincial capital, detonated his explosive vest inside the Shia mosque during Friday congregation. The main handler Muhammad Tariq alias Khalid hailed from Bara tehsil of Khyber district.

A police source said the attacker’s family had fraudulently obtained Pakistani documents. His father and a rickshaw driver, who drove him to the mosque, were also taken into custody. According to the bomber’s father, Ihsanullah came in contact with Wajid and Muzaffar at his school near Garrison Park. He had left for Afghanistan about 18 months ago.

The police said the terrorist group was also involved in other high-profile killings, including that of a peace committee member on the outskirts of Peshawar, two religious scholars – Sheikh Abdul Hameed and Qari Sheikh Muhammad – as well as the assassination of Assistant Sub-Inspectors Imtiaz Alam and Mehboobullah.