Pakistan says it has arrests 4 militants over involvement in suicide bombing at Islamabad court

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan connected Friday announced the apprehension of 4 militants implicit their alleged engagement successful a deadly termination bombing extracurricular a territory tribunal successful the capital, a breakthrough successful an probe launched aft the onslaught killed 12 radical and wounded 28 others.

The men are suspected members of the outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, oregon TTP, which is simply a abstracted radical but intimately allied to the Afghanistan Taliban. One of the suspects, Sajid Ullah, is believed to person handled the weaponry utilized successful the termination onslaught connected the tribunal successful Islamabad connected Tuesday, the authorities said successful a station connected societal media level X.

The men were detained successful a associated cognition by the nation's Intelligence Bureau and Counter-Terrorism Department, the authorities said.

The arrests came a time aft Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said Afghan nationals carried retired termination bombings successful Islamabad and northwest Pakistan earlier this week.

Ullah told investigators that Saeed-ur-Rehman, a TTP commander, ordered the onslaught successful Islamabad done the Telegram messaging app. The commander, besides known arsenic Daadullah, sent Ullah photographs of the termination bomber, an Afghanistan citizen, with orders to person him aft helium crossed the borderline into Pakistan from Afghanistan, wherever helium was a nonmigratory of Nangarhar province, the authorities said.

Ullah arranged accommodation for the attacker adjacent Islamabad and aboriginal retrieved an explosive termination vest from a graveyard successful the northwestern metropolis of Peshawar connected Daadullah’s instructions earlier transporting the vest to the capital, the authorities said.

Daadullah, primitively from Pakistan’s Bajaur region, is portion of TTP’s quality helping and presently hiding successful Afghanistan, the authorities said.

Naqvi, Pakistan’s interior minister, said Thursday that Afghan citizens were progressive successful the Islamabad bombing connected Tuesday and an onslaught Monday successful the northwestern metropolis of Wana, wherever gunmen stormed a cadet assemblage and began a weapon conflict that lasted astir 20 hours. Three soldiers and each the attackers were killed.

The attacks underscored Pakistan’s deteriorating information clime arsenic the state faces a resurgence successful militancy, progressively fraught relations with Afghanistan's authorities successful its capital, Kabul, and a fragile cross-border ceasefire.

Until Tuesday’s blast, Islamabad was considered safer than the country’s northwest, which has suffered from repeated violence.

TTP representatives did not remark connected the arrests, which besides came days aft Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif offered to undertake talks with Afghanistan’s Taliban-led authorities successful a renewed bid overture portion urging Kabul to rein successful the TTP.

On Friday, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi thanked Qatar and Turkey for facilitating Pakistan's talks with Afghanistan and said Islamabad remained committed to resolving issues with Kabul done dialogue.

“Pakistan has ne'er eschewed dialog with immoderate authorities successful Kabul,” helium said, adding that erstwhile the Taliban came into powerfulness successful Afghanistan, Pakistan expected that authorities yet would beryllium capable to power attacks successful Pakistan emanating from Afghanistan.

“During these years, Pakistan besides tried to positively prosecute with the Afghan Taliban regime, offering bilateral commercialized assistance, bilateral commercialized concessions and humanitarian assistance,” helium said, noting that contempt affirmative gestures from Pakistan, the effect from Afghanistan's Taliban authorities "has lone been hollow promises and inaction.”

Kabul is attempting to springiness the content that militants hiding successful Afghanistan are refugees, helium said.

“This is not a humanitarian oregon exile situation but a ploy to framework terrorists arsenic refugees,” Andrabi said. “Among Afghan Taliban, determination are elements who bash not privation confrontation with Pakistan, but determination is simply a beardown lobby with monetary enactment from overseas actors that has been tasked to stoke tension."

Those people, helium said, person "engaged successful abuses and outrageous allegations against Pakistan and, successful doing so, they are accelerated eroding immoderate goodwill they had wrong Pakistan.”

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Riaz Khan and Rasool Dawar successful Peshawar, Pakistan, and Ishtiaq Mahsud successful Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, contributed to this report.

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