Qari Zia Group suspected in Wali Bagh suicide attack

ISLAMABAD/CHARSADDA - The joint investigation team set up to probe into the Wali Bagh suicide bombing is working on two important leads with the major one going down the line to an Afghan group operating in Mohmand/Bajaur region.

Well-placed sources told TheNation that investigators were convinced that modus operandi adopted by the suicide bomber was akin to the method followed by the group of Qari Ziaur Rehman, an Afghan national, leading about 1,000 guards in the region.

This perception got more credence after local Taliban denied any hand in the incident, thus pushing the investigators to believe that this could have been the handiwork of Qari Ziaur Rehman group.

Qari Ziaur Rehman group, which was recently pushed out from the Bajaur Agency by Pakistani security forces, is currently operating in the areas adjacent to Charsadda district, the place of incident.

It was further learnt that the investigators had found the legs and ears of the suicide bomber and sent them for forensic study. Explosives and mechanism used in the bombing might lead the investigators to the direction the bomber had come from.

The Federal Investigation Agency’s special investigation group and the investigation branch of the NWFP Police Department are still trying to figure out the type of chemicals used in the bombing.

The FIA believes that it was a low intensity phosphate/nitrate mix; whereas the police investigation team insists that the suicide jacket was made of plastic explosives.