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| India-Pakistan |
| Two DG Khan suicide attack accused held |
| 2009-04-08 |
| [The News (Pak)] DERA GHAZI KHAN: Police claimed on Monday to have arrested two accused involved in the suicide attack on a Shia procession here two months ago. Addressing a press conference, RPO Khan Mubarik Ali Athar disclosed that Qari Muhammad Ismail and Ghulam Mustafa had planned the attack with Tehrik Taliban Pakistan Commander Baitullah Mehsud in South Waziristan. He said the suicide bomber was identified as 20-year-old Abdullah alias Arshad Pathan of Waziristan. The RPO said that the suicide bomber reached DG Khan on February 4, a day before the attack, and stayed at the residence of Ghulam Mustafa. The police official claimed the accused had surveyed the route of the procession and prepared its map before the attack. The suicide bomber was taken to a nearby petrol pump on a vehicle and he blew himself up there, killing 27 people and injuring 50 others, he said. The RPO claimed that Qari Muhammad Ismail was a resident of Vidore Town and allegedly belonged to a banned outfit. He said the accused had confessed to the crime, saying he had taken the revenge of the murder of Maulana Azam Tariq. He added that the terrorists had a big network, which comprised people from Bahawalpur, Multan and Azad Kashmir. He said the accused were also planning to kidnap foreign engineers, attack sensitive installations and public places. He said Ghulam Mustafa was planning to flee to Dubai as he was working as a sales representative with a pharmaceutical company. He further disclosed that the accused had planned to siege the Dhodak oil and gas plant and had completed their planning. Qari Ismail had received training from a Jihadi camp in South Waziristan in 2008, he said, adding the Jihadi camp belonged to Commander Qari Imran alias Hakeem Nasir of the Mehsud group while the suicide attack on the procession was planned by the Naib commander of the Baitullah Mehsud group Qari Hassan Ahmed Mehsud. Khan Mubarik Ali Athar added that the accused had also confessed to killing five Shiites at Kacha Khoh, Khanewal in August 2008. He also claimed that they had recovered sims, maps of sensitive installations and CDs from the accused. However, the police neither presented the accused before the media nor shown the things recovered from them. |
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