- Tuesday, April 30, 2024
By: Chandrashekar Bhat
PAKISTANI security agencies arrested two suspects in connection with a car bomb blast outside the house of Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, the alleged prime conspirator of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.
The counter terrorism department (CTD) has arrested two suspects who had a connection with the sale and purchase of the car used for the blast, an official said on Friday (25).
The CTD official did not disclose the identity of the suspects, but a media report named one of the arrested as David Peter.
Intelligence agencies arrested a man at Lahore airport on suspicion of his involvement in the blast, Geo News reported. Quoting police sources, the report said the man was asked to get off a Karachi-bound flight a few minutes before its departure. He was taken to an undisclosed location for investigation.
“We are getting a lead from the arrested persons to the main culprits,” a CTD official said.
The arrests came after the security agencies conducted raids in several cities of Punjab province.
A first information report (FIR) has been registered against “unknown terrorists” under terrorism and other charges, police said.
Three persons were killed and 21 others injured when the powerful car bomb exploded outside Saeed’s residence in Johar Town on Wednesday (23) morning.
Some police officers guarding his house were seriously injured. The windows and walls of Saeed’s house were damaged from the impact of the blast.
Several other properties near the blast site were also damaged.
The CTD official said it was a remote-controlled device installed in a car parked at the police picket near Saeed’s house. No group has claimed responsibility for the blast.
“Some 15 kilograms of explosives were planted in the car that was stolen from Gujranwala. Through the CCTV it was seen that the car driver reached the police picket and parked it there and left 15 minutes before the blast,” the official said.
Meanwhile, police and paramilitary Pakistan Rangers personnel have been deployed outside and in the vicinity of Saeed’s residence. Security has also been put on high alert in Lahore.
Inspector General Police Punjab Inam Ghani had said “hostile intelligence agencies” could be involved in this blast.
The CTD and intelligence agencies have collected ball bearings, pieces of iron and the vehicle’s parts from the site of the blast.
Saeed, 71, has been serving a jail sentence at Kot Lakhpat prison in Lahore in terror financing cases.
