A day after arresting suspects who might have helped the suicide bomber enter the mosque, Pakistani police identified the bomber. On January 30, a bomb blast in a mosque in Peshawar killed about 103. the attack was reportedly carried out by a suicide bomber.
According to the Peshawar police chief, the bomber breached security by wearing a police uniform, Reuters reported. Moazzam Jah Ansari, police chief of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where Peshawar is located, said the bomber was part of a "network" and had driven a motorcycle into the area.
The police, after matching his head with images from CCTV footage said that he wore a helmet. The powerful blast blew a wall of the prayer hall.
“He (suicide bomber) entered the main gate on a motorcycle, came inside, talked to a constable and asked him where the mosque was. This means that the attacker was not aware of the area. He was given a target and there is an entire network behind him. He was not a lone ranger,” Ansari was quoted as saying by The Dawn.
Initially, TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban) officials Sarbakaf Mohmand and Omar Mukaram Khurasani claimed the attack. But later, the group denied being part of it. Reportedly the bomber used 12-16kgs of TNT in the blast.
Ansari added that the police refrained from clearing the debris using heavy machinery in order to save lives.
