The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Peshawar has made a major breakthrough in the investigation into last month’s brutal murder of a Chinese engineer in Bisham, Shangla district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Four terrorists were arrested on March 26 for their involvement in the deadly bombing of a car carrying five Chinese nationals, including a woman and a Pakistani driver, when the car bomb was hit by a suicide bomber.
The CTD spokesperson said that the arrested terrorists were associated with the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and there were other terrorists in the same network.
Earlier in the month, CTD “arrested” more than 10 terrorists and facilitators, while illegal outfits linked to TTP were suspected to be involved in the deadly attack on March 26.
The Chinese engineer who was killed was working on the Dasu Dam project and was targeted while traveling on the Karakoram Highway.
Following the attack, the Chinese company overseeing work at the Dasu and Diamer-Bhasha Dams temporarily suspended civil works at the two sites due to security concerns.
Some 991 Chinese engineers are working on the two projects, and local officials have been told to stay at home until further notice, an official release confirmed.
CTD sources informed that the terrorist leader responsible for bringing the deceased attacker to Pakistan from Afghanistan and four other facilitators have also been arrested.
Further, investigations revealed that the explosive-laden vehicle used in the deadly attack was prepared in Afghanistan and then transported through the Pak-Afghan Chaman border crossing in Balochistan to Dera Ismail Khan’s Darazi.
From there, the vehicle was sent to Chakdar in Lower Dir – an unusual toll vehicle smuggler – whose driver was paid $250,000.
Security forces arrested the facilitator responsible for transporting the vehicle from Chaman to Chakdar.
Investigative sources said the vehicle was brought to the scene on the day of the attack after being parked for 10 days at a cost of $500 per day.
According to sources, the mastermind of the attack, Hazrat Bilal, is wanted by the security forces for his involvement in the Dasu dam attack.
Two accomplices of the deceased attacker have been detained and CTD expects to arrest Bilal soon. According to CTD sources, the arrest was made using mobile data and a SIM card purchased by the deceased attacker through a third party.
