report in Daily Times, mar 18, 2023
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) on Friday revealed that the mastermind behind the police lines mosque suicide bomb attack has been traced and confirmed that a faction of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was behind it.
Additional IG CTD Shaukat Abbas and DIG CTD Sohail Khalid stated that the attack was planned in Afghanistan and that a second suicide bomber was also prepared to carry out the attack had the first one failed.
Earlier in February, the TTP had claimed responsibility for the worst terror attack to strike the country in years, taking at least 84 lives. In the press conference, AIG Abbas said that the suicide bomber had been identified with the help of some 300 cameras which aided in tracing his handler and the key mastermind behind the attack.
The handler has been identified as Ghaffar alias Suleman while the suicide bomber’s name was Qari and he belonged to Mohmand Agency.
During the press conference, it was also revealed that the two had been in contact prior to the attack and that both, Qari and the backup attacker, had received their training in Kunduz, a city in northern Afghanistan.
The CTD officials vowed to catch all perpetrators and bring them to justice.
https://dailytimes.com.pk/1074167/ctd-says-peshawar-attack-mastermind-traced/
