A police officer was killed and four suspects, including an Afghan national who worked for Daesh and masterminded a deadly suicide bombing in the Pakistani capital a day earlier, were arrested in overnight raids, according to Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, who addressed a news conference on Saturday, local media in the region reported.
Officials have confirmed 32 deaths from Friday’s blast at the Qasr-e-Khadijatul Kubra mosque and imambargah in the Tarlai Kallan area on Islamabad’s outskirts, with more than 150 others injured.
The blast occurred during Friday prayers, when mosques around the country are packed with worshippers. A regional Daesh affiliate said one of its members had targeted the congregation by detonating an explosive vest.
“Immediately after the explosion, raids were carried out in Peshawar and Nowshera, and four of the facilitators [of the suicide bomber] were arrested,” Naqvi told the media in Islamabad. “The best thing that happened was that their mastermind, who is an Afghan affiliated with Daesh, was also apprehended.”
He confirmed that a Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police officer lost his life during a raid carried out at night, while a few others were also injured.
MNA
