Mastung suicide bomber identified, prime suspect behind Bilour attack arrested

ISLAMABAD: The suicide bomber behind the horrific Mastung attack has been identified as Hafiz Nawaz a resident of Abbottabad, the Senate Standing Committee on Interior was informed on Friday.

A total of 149 people including election candidate Nawab Siraj Raisani were martyred in a suicide bombing at an election meeting in Mastung on July 13.

Briefing the committee, IG Balochistan Mohsin Hassan Butt said the suicide bomber had traveled from Abbottabad to Sindh where he linked up with a banned organisation. 

Siraj Raisani laid to rest in Mastung

Raisani was laid to rest in his ancestral graveyard in Kanak area of Mastung district

The suicide bomber was part of Daesh and had been affiliated with the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi as well, he added. “The facilitators of the attack have also been detected,” Butt informed senators.

The IG Balochistan further told the committee that Daesh had established a strong presence in Afghanistan and was carrying out terrorist attacks in Balochistan. 

According to the official, Mufti Haider and Hafiz Naeem were local commanders of Daesh and efforts are underway for their arrests.

The Counter Terrorism Department DIG Aitzaz Goraya in a press briefing said that the suicide bomber was facilitated by a local resident who had been living in Mastung.

Goraya said that the suicide bomber's brothers and sisters went to Afghanistan two years back, adding that the bomber was identified through his fingerprints.

ANP leader Haroon Bilour laid to rest in Peshawar

Haroon Bilour was among 20 people martyred in a suicide attack in Peshawar on Tuesday night

Meanwhile, Additional IG Khyber Pakhtunkhwa informed the committee that the person at the centre of a suicide bombing which claimed the life of Awami National Party (ANP) leader Haroon Bilour and 21 others in Peshawar had been arrested. 

Bilour was martyred when a suicide bomber struck an ANP election meeting on July 10.