The suicide bomber who attacked a mosque in Peshawar this week has been identified, the provincial police chief said on Thursday. He said that the attacker was wearing a police uniform and this is what helped him breach security.
The police chief also confirmed that a severed head that the police found at the blast site was of the attacker.
More than 100 people died in the attack which took place on Monday in a heavily fortified area called Police Lines. All but three of them were policemen.
Moazzam Jah Ansari, police chief of Khyber Pashtunkhwa province where Peshawar is located, told reporters the bomber was part of a “network” and had driven a motorcycle into the area. He added that the police was “closing in” on the terror network behind the suicide attack.
“Those on duty didn’t check him because he was in a police uniform… It was a security lapse,” Moazzam Jah Ansari told reporters.
Monday’s bombing was the deadliest in a decade to hit Peshawar.
The suicide blast was so powerful that it blew away the wall of the prayer hall and an inner roof. Around 300 to 400 people, mostly police officers, had gathered for the Zohr prayers, when the bomber blew himself up at around 1 pm.
Ansari further informed that the police had found ball bearings from the blast site. “We bound ball bearings used in a suicide jacket from underneath the rubble yesterday.”
“This was a suicide bomber… we have obtained the CCTV footage of his movement from Khyber Road to the Police Lines… how he parked his motorcycle on a side. He was in a police uniform and was wearing a mask and a helmet,” the officer said.
The attack has led to unprecedented protests by police personnel across the province.
“How long will this injustice against us last?” one of the protesters told reporters. Another group of policemen in Peshawar chanted: “We want peace.”
The most active militant group in the area, the Pakistani Taliban, also called Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has denied responsibility for the mosque attack. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
(With inputs from agencies)
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