Mastung blast: Suicide bomber identified

The suicide bomber, who was responsible for the election rally suicide attack at Mastung in Balochistan last week, has been identified as Hafiz Nawaz, a resident of Abbottabad.

On July 13, at least 149 people, including Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) leader Siraj Raisani, were killed and over 200 injured after a suicide bomber blew himself up during an election rally in Mastung, making it one of the single largest terror attacks in the history of Pakistan, Geo TV reported.

According to the media reports, the Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility for the Mastung attack.

Briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Interior on Thursday, Inspector-General (IG) Balochistan Mohsin Hassan Butt said that the suicide bomber had travelled from Abbottabad to Sindh and was in contact with a banned terrorist organisation.

"The suicide bomber was a part of Daesh (IS) and had been affiliated with the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi as well. The facilitators of the attack have also been detected," Butt was quoted by Geo TV as saying.

He added that the IS was carrying out terror attacks in Balochistan and had established a strong presence in Afghanistan, as per the report.

Counter Terrorism Department Director Inspector General (DIG) Aitzaz Goraya stated that a local resident in Mastung helped the suicide bomber to carry out the attack.

He further said that the suicide bomber was identified with the help of his fingerprints.
Meanwhile, Additional IG Khyber Pakhtunkhwa said a person suspected to be involved in a suicide attack in Peshawar which claimed the life of Awami National Party (ANP) leader Haroon Bilour and 21 others was arrested.

The Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had claimed responsibility for the Peshawar attack.
Earlier, Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor had clarified that the Pakistan Army would not be directly responsible for the security of any politician.

He had clarified that the army personnel were only following the instructions given by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

Pakistan has been suffering a spate of terror attacks in the run-up to the general elections slated to be held on July 25.

--ANI