Another facilitator of Peshawar agricultural directorate attack arrested

PESHAWAR: Yet another facilitator of the attack on Directorate of Agriculture Extension has been arrested in the city.

The counter-terrorism department officials said Saturday the arrest was made in Larama area of Peshawar.

The accused, Mohammad Yasir, belongs to Bajaur Agency of Federally Administered Tribal Areas, the offical added.

Prior to this, the CTD apprehended a facilitator of the attack in January.

The arrested persons were reportedly involved in facilitating the attack on a hostel in Directorate of Agriculture Extension in Peshawar on December 1, 2017, which claimed at least nine lives.

The attack resulted in a nearly hour-long shoot-out, during which all the terrorists were killed, the security forces had claimed.

Intermittent gunshots and blasts could be heard from inside the premises throughout the operation.

While talking to Geo News on the day of the attack, SSP Operations Sajjad Khan had told Geo News that five attackers wearing suicide jackets reached the compound in a rickshaw. They were said to be wearing burqas and had come in a rickshaw to avoid suspicion.

The police official had said the attackers' first target was the security guard of the premises, following which they made their way inside, towards the students' hostel of the Agriculture Training Institute.

"They could have wreaked havoc but the police and army successfully neutralised the threat," he had said.

Fortunately not many students were present due to the long weekend, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa IG Salahuddin Khan Mehsud had said, adding the police evacuated around a dozen students from the hostel.