ISLAMABAD: Investigators in the terrorism case in Islamabad have identified the suicide bomber and are searching for two suspects who facilitated him in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Rawalpindi to reach the capital and detonate an explosive device on December 23.

Sources close to the investigators told Dawn that there were two facilitators of the suicide bomber: one brought him to Islamabad on December 23 and the other, who was present in Rawalpindi, handed him the suicide jacket.

The investigation showed that the suicide bomber had traveled to Mardan from Karak, stayed there overnight along with one of the facilitators and then moved to Swabi where they took a vehicle to reach the Pirwadhai bus terminal in Rawalpindi.

So far, it is yet to be established if they had traveled with a ready-to-detonate suicide jacket, because it is very risky and dangerous.

It is believed that there was another facilitator who was present in Rawalpindi, in the close vicinity of the bus terminal, who brought the jacket to the bomber, the sources said, adding the bomber also made a call after reaching Pirwadhi and talked to someone.

It is suspected that the man to whom the bomber had talked was the one who had arranged the suicide jacket, the sources said.

Earlier, the investigators had found some remains of the bomber from the crime scene, including his four fingers.

Forensic experts succeeded in cleaning the little finger and getting fingerprints from it which resulted in his identification, the sources said. A sim found on the spot also had the same details as those taken from the fingerprints.

The suicide bomber was a native of the Kurram district of KP and has been identified as Saqibuddin, 22, the sources said.

Meanwhile, a man who made a video of Parliament House from Margalla Hills and shared it on social media with the threat of terrorism has been arrested, the sources said. The arrest was made with the assistance of intelligence agencies.

The sources said the arrested person was affiliated with the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2023