The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of Peshawar arrested two suicide bombers belonging to the ISIS-K from the Matani area on Friday. The terrorists were planning to attack the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and the Awami National Party (ANP) president Aimal Wali.
The SP CTD said that the terrorists had also done reconnaissance of the JUI center, where Maulana Fazlur Rehman was scheduled to address a public gathering on Saturday. The terrorists had received training from Afghanistan’s Paktia province, where ISIS-K has a strong presence.
The CTD recovered suicide jackets, three hand grenades, and ISIS pamphlets from the arrested suicide bombers. The bomb disposal units (BDUs) defused the weapons and suicide jackets. The SP CTD said that the political leaders had been receiving threats for some time, and the CTD was monitoring their activities.
The suicide bomber and his facilitator were arrested on secret information from the Matani area, where they had rented a house. The SP CTD said that the terrorists’ target was Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Aimal Wali, who are vocal critics of the government and the Taliban. The CTD also recovered videos and maps of the JUI center from the terrorists’ mobile phones, which showed their preparation for the attack.
The CTD has registered a case against the arrested terrorists and is further investigating their links and network.