Gen spots assailant: Jaish from PoK

The suicide bomber from Jaish, or its breakaway group Jamat-ul-Furqan, is said to be a Muhammad Jamil from Rawalkot. Following raids, at least three people have been picked up from a village near this PoK town.

The other assailant, initially believed to be a Chechen, has been identified as an Afghan. It’s not clear whether the second man, who carried a fake identity card describing him as a resident of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NWFP), was Taliban or Al Qaeda.

Official sources told The Nation that the identifications were made on the basis of remains of the bodies of the suicide bombers—their faces were left intact—a chip of the cellphone carried by one of the attackers, and the chassis and engine numbers of the two cars used in the attack. Following the identification, at least 25 people have been arrested from Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Karachi and Rawalkot in PoK. In Karachi, five Afghans were arrested.

Two suicide car bombers rammed explosives-laden vehicles into Musharraf’s cavalcade on Thursday in Rawalpindi, 20 km from capital Islamabad, in a second attack on the President in less than a fortnight. While Musharraf escaped unhurt, 15 people died in the incident.

Pakistan Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed confirmed the identifications on Sunday. ‘‘Both the suicide bombers have been identified. One of them belonged to Kashmir (PoK) and the other was from NWFP (that borders Afghanistan),’’ he said. ‘‘It’s a huge network of terrorists having tentacles from Kashmir to Afghanistan. They also have international ties.’’

In PoK, the owner of a car used in the attack identified Jamil as the man who had purchased the vehicle from him just two days before Christmas. Jamil’s parents have reportedly identified his mutilated face. The Afghan suicide bomber has been identified as Walid Sultan.

The Jaish was earlier led by Masood Azhar, who was released by India during the Kandahar hijacking. Following its banning last year by Pakistan, Azhar had floated Khudamul Islam, which was also proscribed. Pakistan’s abandonment of its one-time ally Taliban to support the US-led war angered both.(The Nation with agencies)