PESHAWAR, Feb 02 (APP):Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General of Police (IGP) Moazzam Jah Ansari here Thursday said the network of terrorists behind the deadly police lines mosque attack has been found and claimed that the bomber arrived in police uniform riding a motorcycle to target policemen gathered for prayers in the mosque.
Addressing a press conference here, the IGP that the closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage has been acquired through which it was clearly seen that the suicide bomber was wearing a police uniform, riding a motorcycle and wearing a face mask.
He refuted all the conspiracies that emerged regarding the suicide attack in Peshawar.
He said the designs of terrorists would be thwarted with full might with the cooperation of state organisations and police.
At least 103 people mostly policemen were killed and 220 injured in the mosque attack that happened Monday this week in the red zone.
Flanked by Chief Capital City Police Officer, Ejaz Khan, the IGP said that the morale of the police force was sky-high despite the mosque’s bombing and ready to give more sacrifices for the protection of their motherland against any threat.
“We are zeroing in on the terrorist network behind the deadly terrorist attack on the peaceful worshipers during Zuhr prayer inside the police lines’ mosque.”
The IGP pleaded to people not to provoke and mislead his force’s jawans. “Police jawans are like his children and the misleading would not be tolerated.”
The IGP disclosed that the network of terrorists behind the attack has been found.
The suicide blast was so powerful that the shockwaves did not find ways to escape, hence, forcing the mosque ‘s roof to collapse on worshipers due to the lack of pillars.
He said about 10 to 12 kilograms of trinitrotoluene (TNT) was used in the attack. “Our first target was to retrieve the survivors and extract injured from the mosque’s debris.”
He reiterated that the pain of the police force should not be increased further by creating hurdles in the police work and that politics on the dead bodies of our loved ones should be avoided. The IGP said all details would be shared with the media once the investigation was completed
To a question about the extra time taken in the investigation, IGP explained that it takes one person 24 hours to scan a day’s footage and 100 people were required to look at all cameras.
The IGP informed that he himself had seen the footage of the suicide bomber who was dressed in a police uniform wearing a casual jacket and helmet arriving on a motorbike to police lines.
He said the motorcycle used by the bomber has been traced and more details about tracing were being collected. He said police were close to tracing the network of terrorists behind the mosque bombing.
The IGP said the bomber entered the mosque at 12:37 pm and asked one of the police constables about the mosque, adding the question indicated that the bomber was unaware of the place and was sent by someone to carry out the explosion with police was the target.
“There is a complete network behind the bomber. He is not a lone ranger.” The IGP said investigators were burning the midnight oil in this case and every angle and possibility was being explored to bring this high profile case to its logical end.
He said that police force was busy in funeral preparations of their martyrs while conspiracies were started to provoke our people to launch a protest.
He said misleading and provoking of police jawans would not be tolerated further.
