CCTV footage shows valiant guard chasing Islamabad attacker

ISLAMABAD: The close circuit television (CCTV) footage of an attack on a Shia mosque here, which left two dead including the attacker, shows how a suicide bomber goes on a shooting rampage while a fearless security guard valiantly chases him until he guns the aggressor down before himself getting shot and dying later in the hospital.

The attack in Bhara Kahu, a village on the northeastern outskirts of
Islamabad, came hours after gunmen opened fire on worshippers leaving prayers for the Eid al-Fitr festival at a Sunni mosque in the troubled southwestern city of Quetta.

"A suicide bomber targeted a Shia mosque on the outskirts of Islamabad in Bhara Kahu area but could not explode himself due to timely interception by a private security guard," a police officer said.

"The guard opened fire on the bomber as he entered the mosque and killed him. He could not explode his jacket."

The guard later succumbed to his wounds.

The Footage

The surveillance cameras filmed part of the scene in which a quick-footed lean-bodied bearded man in his mid or late thirties, carrying a handgun, suddenly shows up in the street and starts shooting at the worshippers, leaving the mosque after offering prayer, to make his way through to the target.

The attacker's calculated shooting, his agility, and composure, speak volumes of his 'training.'

Panicked pedestrians could be seen running amuck for their lives as the calm-looking bomber gingerly advances towards the mosque shooting at will at everyone he runs into on his way. Everyone is running for cover. Some take refuge in the safety of houses the doors of which are luckily unfastened.

The rest just run away in all directions dodging the bullets.

Moments later a young security guard, also armed with a handheld weapon, comes running after the bomber. He seems unfazed and determined. Both exchange fire. Then the bomber turns the corner. The guard also pauses at the corner for sometime and then goes after the attacker.

After a while a middle-aged man emerges from a house wielding an assault rifle, he also disappears around the corner most probably where the rest of the action is taking place.

That’s all the fixed CCTV camera’s eye could capture.