Pakistani police seek clues to suicide bomber's identity
Police examined clothing, shoes and the severed legs of a man today trying to determine the identity of a suicide bomber who killed at least 50 people during a holiday prayer service at a crowded mosque in north-western Pakistan.
Security officers arrested seven students from an Islamic school hours after the blast yesterday, which apparently targeted former Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao, who had been deeply involved in Pakistan’s fight against militants linked to the Taliban and al-Qaida.
The bomber struck a mosque inside Mr Sherpao’s residential compound during prayers for the Islamic holy day of Eid al-Adha, leaving a scene of splattered blood, body parts, prayer caps and shoes.
Mr Sherpao escaped harm but one of his sons was wounded and at least 50 people were killed. Mr Sherpao had survived a suicide attack at a rally in the nearby town of Charsadda eight months ago that killed 28 people. Officials blamed al-Qaida for that attack.
Police collected pieces of clothing, shoes, prayer mats and two severed legs of a man from the scene of the latest bombing, and investigators were examining them for clues to identify the bomber, an official involved in the probe said.
“We are looking at how it happened and who did it,” he said, adding so far there were no clues to indicate who was behind the attack.
Hours after the bombing police raided an Islamic school in the nearby village of Turangzai and arrested seven students, three of them Afghans.
The raid was carried out based on intelligence information, a second police official said. The officer indicated the arrests could be linked to the bombing, but he would not elaborate.
Suspicion for the blast was expected to focus on the pro-Taliban or al-Qaida militants active in north-west Pakistan – near the Afghan border – where the attack occurred.
President Pervez Musharraf condemned the blast and directed security and intelligence agencies to track down the masterminds, the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan reported. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also condemned the attack.
The blast deepened the sense of uncertainty in Pakistan ahead of January 8 parliamentary elections, which Mr Sherpao, as head of the Pakistan Peoples Party-Sherpao, is contesting.
The bomber was in a row of worshippers when he detonated the explosive, provincial police chief Sharif Virk said yesterday.
Witnesses said the dead included police officers guarding Mr Sherpao, who was praying in the mosque’s front row at the time of the attack.
Meanwhile, police said they arrested three suspected militants carrying explosives in their car on Friday. They were arrested during a routine security check on a road leading from the North West Frontier Province to the eastern province of Punjab.
Malik Abdul Aziz Khan, the top police official in the nearby town of Mianwali, said the arrests were not linked to Friday’s mosque bombing.
Police found an car battery packed with explosives hidden in the car’s boot, a land-mine under a seat, a detonator and a remote control, Khan said.
The suspects were not identified and Khan said that during initial questioning they said they had received the explosives from the administrator of an Islamic school in Miran Shah, the main town in North Waziristan, a tribal region near the Afghan border where alleged Taliban and al-Qaida-linked militants operate.
Mr Khan said police were investigating the suspects to determine whether they planned to use the car in a bomb attack.
