The (last) Friday bombing of an Imambargah in Shikarpur could be the handiwork of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi rather than Jundullah whose spokesperson had claimed responsibility for it, according to initial findings of the police investigation.
“The finding that the LJ was involved in the suicide attack, which claimed the life of over 55 people, was based on three factors,” said Raja Umer Khattab, chief of the counter-terror unit of the crime investigation department.
Firstly, Jundullah had no network in any part of Sindh except Karachi where it remained involved in some terror attacks, said the CID officer who is leading the police investigation team.
Secondly, he said, Jundullah spokesperson Fahad Marvat who claimed the attack responsibility soon after the Shikarpur blast did not enjoy credibility after being found wrong in claiming the responsibility for ‘three to four’ other terror incidents in the past.
Mr Khattab said the spokesperson had also claimed the responsibility for the Nov 2, 2014 attack at Wagah border, but it later emerged that the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan was involved in the border terror act. TTP spokesperson Khalid Khurrasani released the picture of the suicide bomber while claiming its responsibility, the officer said.
Thirdly, he added, the militant outfits found in sectarian attacks in Quetta could be moving to Sindh cities as their new centre of militancy. “The wave of Shia killings may be turning to Sindh cities from Quetta,” said the CID officer.
Shikarpur is near the vast border area of Balochistan that lacks any significant security checks unlike the Hub city on the Sindh-Balochistan border that has better security measures in place, said the CID officer.
While the police have yet to make any formal arrest for the Imambargah attack, they claim to have found some clues to the bomber and his possible affiliation.
The CID officer said they had collected three pieces of evidence — DNA samples, fingerprints and pieces of clothes — from the crime scene. DNA samples have been sent to a laboratory in Islamabad, while fingerprints have been given to the National Database and Registration Authority.
The local police with the help of the pieces of clothes detained a tailor who had reportedly stitched them for interrogation, he said. “We do not treat the tailor as a suspect in the case,” said Mr Khattab, while suspecting that the bomber had some local support.
Meanwhile Larkana DIG Sain Rakhio Mirani told a press conference at the Shikarpur SSP’s office yesterday evening that “the bombing of the Imambargah must not be seen as a localised incident because it could be part of the war being fought at the international level”.
