Lahore, March 12: Pakistani security agencies on Saturday arrested two operatives of the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba group for alleged involvement in a suicide car bomb attack near an ISI office in the eastern city of in Faisalabad earlier this week.
“We have arrested Usman and Habib, both members of the Sipah-e-Sahaba, on the basis of a lead that they had facilitated the suicide bomber named Asif,” an investigator said.
The officer, who did not want to be named, said three other suspects Muhammad Asim, Abdur Rehman and Imam Khalid have also been taken into custody in connection with Tuesday’s attack that killed 25 people and injured over 130 others.
Imam Khalid is the prayer leader of a mosque in the Agriculture University of Faisalabad.
The suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden vehicle near a CNG station in Faisalabad after failing to reach the ISI office, investigators said.
Police officials had initially said the attack was carried out with a car bomb.
“The suspects arrested today belong to a splinter group of the Sipah-e-Sahaba that is collaborating with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan to target law enforcement agencies,” the investigator said.
He said the vehicle used by the suicide bomber was brought from North Waziristan tribal region.
The investigator said more arrests were likely in the light of revelations made by the arrested suspects.
The banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was carried out to avenge the killing of a former Lashker-e-Taiba commander who was shot dead by security forces in Faisalabad last year.
—-PTI—