CTD arrests 10 Terrorists, facilitators behind deadly Shangla attack

PESHAWAR: The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) has arrested more than 10 terrorists, facilitators involved in the attack on Chinese engineers in Shangla’s Bisham city last week,

Sources state that the deadly attack on March 26 is thought to have been carried out by groups linked to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

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During the attack, five Chinese citizens, including a woman and a Pakistani driver, were killed when their vehicle was attacked in Shangla’s Besham city as a suicide bomber crashed his explosives-laden vehicle into a car carrying the victims.

Following the incident, the country’s civil and military leadership, including President Asif Ali Zardari, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, denounced the attack and promised that those involved would face consequences.

Due to security concerns, Chinese enterprises in charge of the Dasu and Diamer-Bhasha Dam sites temporarily halted civil activity at both locations following the incident.

An official working on the project revealed to the publication that approximately 991 Chinese engineers were employed on both projects, with the local workers being instructed to remain at home until further orders.

A Chinese investigative team has also been sent to Pakistan to look into the incident, after China’s military declaration that it is eager to cooperate with Pakistan to improve the two nations’ capabilities to respond to security threats and difficulties, including terrorist acts.

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According to CTD sources, four additional facilitators and the terrorist commander who was in charge of transporting the suicide bomber from Afghanistan to Pakistan have also been taken into custody.

Additionally, an inquiry has shown that the vehicle carrying explosives, which was used in the fatal attack, was prepared in Afghanistan and then driven to Dera Ismail Khan’s Darazinda through the Pak-Afghan Chaman border crossing in Balochistan.

The driver received payment of Rs. 250,000 to transport the car to Chakdara in Lower Dir through a smuggler of non-custom paid automobiles.

But security personnel have also taken into custody the middleman who drove the car from Chaman to Chakdara.

The car was then transported to the attack scene on the day of the attack, according to sources from the investigation team, after being parked for ten days at a cost of Rs. 500 per day.

The sources further stated that Hazrat Bilal, the attack’s mastermind, is wanted by the security services for his role in the Dasu dam attack.

With two of the suicide bomber’s accomplices already in police custody, CTD anticipates apprehending Bilal shortly after.

CTD sources state that the suicide bomber’s cellphone and SIM data, which he obtained from a third party, was used to make the arrests.