Father, brother of Mastung suicide bomber arrested from Karachi

KARACHI: Police say they have arrested the father and brother of the suicide bomber behind the July 13 terrorist attack in Mastung that killed 149 people including election candidate Nawab Siraj Raisani. 

The duo was arrested in an intelligence-based raid by Counter Terrorism Department at Banaras area, SSP Counter Terrorism Department Pervaiz Chandio said at a press conference here on Friday.

The suicide bomber, Hafiz Nawaz, was reportedly part of Daesh and had been affiliated with the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi as well.

Chandio said that both the relatives were hiding since the terror incident and were planning to flee to Afghanistan with the rest of family members.

Meanwhile, separate raids were conducted by the law enforcement personnel in Manghopir and Old Sabzi Mandi areas on the immediate information given by the arrested individuals.

"In the raids two more facilitators of the sucide bombers were arrested. Suspects Shiraz and Wali Ahmed were trained in Afghanistan and Panjgaur," SSP CTD Chandio said. 

Authorities said the suicide bomber detonated in the middle of a compound where the political meeting was taking place. The blast wounded around 150 people, a senior provincial government official confirmed.

Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) officials confirmed that it was a suicide blast and noted that almost 16-20 kilogrammes of explosives were used in the explosion.

The bombing was the most deadly attack in Pakistan in over three years since the APS tragedy — when Taliban extremists assaulted a school in Peshawar in 2014, killing over 150 people, mostly children — and is the third incident of election-related violence this week.

Terrorists have targeted politicians, religious gatherings, security forces, and even schools in Pakistan. However, security across the country has dramatically improved since government and military operations cleared large swathes of territory near the Afghan border in recent years.