PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) police chief Moazzam Jah Ansari on Thursday vowed to avenge the death of more than a hundred people in the Police Lines bombing, saying that law enforcement agencies were closing in on the militant network behind the attack.
Speaking at a press briefing here to share developments from the probe into the suicide bombing that ripped through a mosque located within the police compound on Monday, he said that the bomber — clad in police uniform — had been identified.
At least 101 people, including one woman, perished in the powerful explosion, which caused the roof of the mosque to collapse, leaving 221 people wounded.
With pain and anger visible on his face, the KP police chief said the bomber had entered the gate of Malik Saad Shaheed Police Lines at 12:37pm on a motorbike but had not been body-searched since he wore a police uniform, a protective jacket, a mask and a helmet, adding that cops deployed at the security check “thought he was one of them”.
He said that the severed head of the suicide bomber recovered from the site matched the person identified in the CCTV footage.
During his interaction with journalists, IG Ansari said that although the bomber had managed to enter the police compound, he was not familiar with the premises and had to ask an elderly officer about the location of the mosque.
He said that most of his men died after the roof collapsed on top of them due to the impact of explosion. “Trinitrotoluene (TNT) explosives were used in the attack,” he said, adding that the walls of the mosque — which was built some 50 years ago — could not withstand the shockwave.
