Mastermind among four facilitators of Islamabad suicide attack arrested: security sources

• Operations conducted in Peshawar, Nowshera: security sources.
• Security personnel martyred, three others injured during operations.
• Attacker's brothers, brother-in-law among those arrested: sources.
  

ISLAMABAD: In a major breakthrough, intelligence agencies, in coordination with law enforcement agencies (LEAs), have arrested four facilitators, including the mastermind behind the suicide blast at Islamabad's Khadijah al-Kubra Imambargah, security sources said on Saturday.

Security sources said that the operations were conducted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Peshawar and Nowshera, utilising both technical and human intelligence.

The Afghan mastermind of the suicide attack is affiliated with the outlawed Daesh, they added.

Security sources stated that Daesh trained and brainwashed the attacker in Afghanistan, noting that militant outfits operating under the patronage of the Afghan Taliban pose a major threat to regional and global peace.

A security personnel was martyred, and three others were injured during the operation, the sources said.

A police spokesperson later said that an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) embraced martyrdom during one such operation, while another ASI and a constable were injured.

The funeral prayers for the martyred policeman have been offered.

The development came a day after at least 33 people were martyred and dozens were injured in a suicide blast at an Islamabad imambargah during Friday prayer.

The attacker detonated himself at the entrance of the imambargah in the federal capital's Tarlai area after opening fire.

Investigators said they recovered the suspected bomber’s identity card at the blast site, which showed his name as Yasir, 32, a resident of Peshawar, according to the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra).

Sources said the suicide bomber had travelled to Afghanistan in May last year and returned to Pakistan the following month.

In June 2025, Yasir activated a new mobile SIM in Bajaur, and from June 27 to October, he remained in Bajaur.

The suicide bomber later moved from Bajaur to Nowshera's Hakimabad and conducted the recce of Islamabad's imambargah on February 2, with target selection and surveillance taking place over a period of several weeks before the suicide attack.

Following the deadly blast, law enforcement agencies launched an intense and wide-scale operation to locate and apprehend the masterminds and facilitators of the suicide bomber.

During the operation, LEAs raided the suspected attacker's residence in Peshawar, resulting in the arrest of two brothers and a brother-in-law.

Meanwhile, security sources said that intelligence-based operations against terrorist networks were underway.