Terrorists including mastermind of deadly DI Khan suicide bombing arrested: CTD

• Terrorist who carried out suicide attack belongs to Afghanistan.
• Five TTP terrorists also embroiled in this attack.
  
• American-made weapons, ammunition recovered from terrorists.
  

The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) on Thursday arrested nine terrorists including the mastermind and seven facilitators involved in the deadly attack on the compound of security forces in Dera Ismail Khan that left at least 23 soldiers martyred earlier this month. 

According to the CTD documents available with Geo News, the mastermind involved in the terrorist attack belongs to Daraban area of DI Khan while six terrorists involved in the attack hail from Afghanistan.

As per the documents, Hasan alias Shakir, the terrorist who carried out the suicide attack, belongs to Afghanistan, and released a video before the attack, while the national identity card and domicile of the other suicide bomber killed in the attack, Sifat Ullah Marwat, also established that the attacker belongs to the neighbouring country. 

Geo News has obtained documents of the suicide bomber Sifat Ullah, while the father of the suicide bomber Sifat Ullah has also confirmed his son's connection with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (Taliban-led Afghan government).

According to the documents, five terrorists of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Gandapur group were also embroiled in this attack. US-made weapons and ammunition were recovered as well from the terrorists.

Daraban suicide attack

At least 23 soldiers embraced martyrdom and many others were injured when six suicide bombers rammed an explosive-laden truck into a military base in the troubled Daraban area of Dera Ismail Khan district early Tuesday, according to security officials.

“In early hours of December 12, 2023, a group of six terrorists attacked a security forces post in the Daraban area of Dera Ismail Khan. The attempt to enter the post was effectively thwarted, which forced the terrorists to ram an explosive-laden vehicle into the post, followed by a suicide bombing attack. The resulting blasts led to the collapse of the building, causing multiple casualties; twenty-three brave soldiers embraced shahadat, while all six terrorists were effectively engaged and sent to hell,” the Inter- Services Public Relations (ISPR) stated in a statement. A little-known militant group, Tehreek-e-Jihad-e-Pakistan (TJP), claimed responsibility for one of the deadliest attacks on Pakistani security forces.

Their spokesman, Mullah Mohammad Qasim, sent a statement to the media, saying a group of their suicide bombers, led by Maulvi Hasan Gandapur, stormed the military compound at 2am. Gandapur reportedly rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the building’s outer walls that caused the main building where the soldiers were residing to collapse.

Subsequently, Foreign Secretary Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi summoned the Chargé d’Affaires of Afghan interim government to deliver Pakistan’s strong demarche in the context of the deadly terrorist attack in Daraban, and demanded that Kabul apprehend and hand over the perpetrators of the attack and the TTP leadership in Afghanistan to the Government of Pakistan.

“Today’s [Tuesday’s] terrorist attack is yet another reminder of the terrorist threat to peace and stability in the region. We must act resolutely with all our collective might to defeat this menace. On its part, Pakistan remains steadfast in its commitment to combat terrorism. The attack, whose responsibility has been claimed by Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan, a terrorist group affiliated with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), resulted in multiple causalities, including shahadat of twenty-three security personnel,” said the Foreign Office.