CTD arrests 10 terrorists, facilitators involved in attack on Chinese nationals

F.P. Report

PESHAWAR: The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) arrested more than 10 terrorists and their facilitators involved in the Besham suicide attack.

Five Chinese nationals were killed when the vehicle they were travelling by was attacked near Besham – a town located in Shangla district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

A suicide bomber had rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the convoy of Chinese engineers which was on its way from Islamabad to their camp in Dasu.

The CTD sources said the network involved in the attack was backed by the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the suicide bomber was from Afghanistan.

The explosives-laden vehicle was brought to Dara Zinda Town of DI Khan from Chaman .

The vehicle used was non-customs paid and it was parked at a petrol station against a fee of Rs500 per day for 10 days.

The vehicle was then brought to Chak Dara through smugglers.

The CTD sources claimed that a facilitator had been arrested in Balochistan. Bilal, the mastermind of the attack, is wanted in Dasu dam attack.

Dasu is the site of a major dam and the area had been attacked in the past. A blast on a bus had killed 13 people, including nine Chinese nationals, in 2021.