'Afghan govt being contacted to get custody of wanted persons in Dasu incident'

ISLAMABAD: The Deputy Inspector General of Counter-Terrorism Department (DIG-CTD) Javed Iqbal said on Thursday that more than 100 kilograms of explosive material had been used by terrorists in the Dasu bus explosion, ARY News reported.

While addressing a media briefing about the investigation into the Dasu Dam incident, DIG KP Javed Iqbal said that the probe was conducted with the cooperation of the country’s intelligence agencies.

He detailed that they found parts of the vehicle used in the terror attack from the crime scene, as well as recovered a finger of the terror suspect. The investigators collected footage of all CCTV cameras installed on the route, whereas, the 500-GB video data was acquired for conducting the investigation.

Moreover, the investigators also scrutinised the mobile phones’ data from the crime scene besides interrogating 90 arrested persons. He added that the Dasu Dam incident turned out to be a blind case for the department.

READ: RAW-NDS NEXUS BEHIND DASU ATTACK: FM QURESHI

Javed Iqbal said that the showroom had been traced with the help of a sticker of the vehicle used in the incident. It was learnt that the vehicle was possessed by the dealer six months ago after it had been transported from Afghanistan.

After scrutinising the databases, a suspect had been arrested from Karachi. The DIG CTD said that the vehicle had been handed over to someone else by the arrested suspect. The vehicle had later been possessed by another suspect named Tariq who had arrived in Pakistan from Afghanistan to carry out the terror attack. Tariq was associated with the banned outfit Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), he revealed.

The investigators traced three more suspects after interrogating the handlers including Ayaz and Hussain who had planned the attack. It emerged that the three suspects had been given training by India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and the National Directorate of Security (NDS) of Afghanistan.

DIG CTD Javed Iqbal revealed that Khalid alias Sher was not a Pakistani citizen and the Afghan government was being contacted to get the custody of the wanted persons.

He added that over 100 kilograms of explosive material had been used in the Dasu bus attack. He said that there was no organised network of terrorists in Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi also said that Indian and Afghan intelligence agencies seem to be involved in the attack on a bus of Chinese engineers working for the Dasu Hydropower Project.

Briefing media about the investigation so far carried out into the Dasu incident, FM Qureshi said that Afghanistan soil was used in Dasu terrorist activity.

At least 12 people, including nine Chinese nationals working on the Dasu Hydropower Project, were killed when a bus carrying them fell into a ravine following an explosion on July 14.

The bus was ferrying the Chinese and Pakistani workers to an under-construction tunnel site of the Dasu Hydropower Project in the remote Kohistan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.