Islamabad: A major terror attack, planned on the pattern of the Bannu Cantt bombing, was foiled in the federal capital ahead of Defence Day.
According to reports, timely intelligence enabled a civilian agency to arrest key facilitators along with a suicide bomber. The group was planning to target a sensitive installation in Islamabad. The plot was linked to militants once led by Noor Wali Mehsud.
Investigations revealed that operational responsibility had been given to a man from Qila Abdullah, Balochistan. He had earlier worked in Islamabad’s hotel industry before returning to his father. He was now serving as the commander for terrorist operations in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The arrested bomber, an Afghan national, had previously worked as a laborer in Kabul before joining the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Officials confirmed that the bomber was trained at the Al-Farooq Fidai Camp in Afghanistan’s Paktika province. His instructor was Mukhlish Yar, also known as Haji Lala, a South Waziristan resident and a close associate of Noor Wali Mehsud and Hakimullah Mehsud.
Both the commander and the bomber were trained in the same training camp. The commander’s initial task was to conduct reconnaissance of sensitive sites in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. In June, he traveled to Afghanistan where the final details of the Islamabad attack were decided.
Security sources said the planned attack was intended to draw global headlines, but timely action prevented a tragedy similar to the Bannu Cantt incident, in which six members of the same family, including five siblings, were martyred.