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Peshawar suicide blast:

Hunt on for 3 LJ activists

* Orakzai says foreign involvement cannot be ruled out
* Probe teams formed

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD/PESHAWAR: The Interior Ministry has directed law enforcement and intelligence agencies to arrest three activists of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ) for their suspected involvement in Saturday’s blast near Qissa Khawani Bazaar’s Qasim Ali Khan Mosque.

Peshawar Police Chief Malik Muhammad Saad and DSP Khan Raziq were among the 15 killed in the attack. Saad has been buried in Kohat, while DSP Khan Raziq has been buried in Nowshera.

Daily Times learnt that LJ activists Jalil Ahmed, Ilyas Moawia and Nazir Ahmed are suspected of orchestrating the Peshawar blast.

The Interior Ministry issued the directive following reports that the three had been planning to target Shias in Peshawar and Hangu during Muharram.

Sources said that law enforcement agencies had been directed to use all resources to arrest the three “terrorists” and crack down on the LJ network in the country.

Meanwhile, a senior police official said three teams had been formed to investigate Saturday’s suicide attack, and police had been deployed in extra strength for peaceful Muharram processions.

“Teams for the collection of evidence, investigation and arrest purposes have been formed,” the new Peshawar police chief, Abdul Majeed Marwat, told Daily Times. Majeed said that statements by injured policemen and other people had not yet been recorded, but when this was done, it could provide police with more clues. Majeed said it was difficult to suggest whether the suicide bomber was targeting police officials, but Adviser to Chief Minister Allama Ramzan Tauqir said that police had been targeted in the attack.

Heavily armed police and security forces in pickup trucks and armoured personnel carriers patrolled streets in Shia-dominated areas of Peshawar.

NWFP Governor Ali Jan Orakzai did not rule out “foreign involvement” in the attack, but said it would be too early to name the country that masterminded the attack.

A report submitted with the Interior Ministry says that a group of LJ activists, led by Wali Dad, has been planning attacks on Shia processions in Parachinar. Similarly, a four-member group of the LJ, led by Izatur Rehman, is working to disrupt peace in Sindh, and is likely to carry out suicide attacks on Shia gatherings in Karachi or Hyderabad during Muharram.

Another report mentions that a few Shia leaders are triggering conflicts by inciting young people to avenge the murder of Syed Agha Ziaud Din. The provincial home secretaries, the chief secretaries of Northern Areas, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and the Islamabad chief commissioner have been directed to improve interaction with Shias, and monitor the activities of some “dissident elements”.

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