Suicide bomber linked to Jaish

PESHAWAR: One of the two suicide bombers who targeted President General Pervez Musharraf last week belonged to an outlawed Pakistani Islamic group and was freed from an Afghan prison last year, intelligence officials said on Monday.

Gen Musharraf narrowly survived the twin bombings on Thursday in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, which killed 18 people and wounded 58. An intelligence official said Mohammed Jameel, 23, a resident of Rawalakot, was a member of the banned militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed.

Another intelligence official said Mr Jameel was caught fighting along the Taliban in Afghanistan and was freed from an Afghan jail last year along with 29 other Pakistanis. On arrival in Pakistan, Mr Jameel was screened by security agencies but was freed. “The joint investigation team had concluded that the suspect was not involved in any anti-state activities as nothing adverse had been found against him,” said the official. “Nobody realised that he would turn into a suicide bomber.” The other suicide bomber was an Afghan. —Reuters

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