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Five facilitators of shrine suicide bombing arrested in Pakistan

Xinhua, February 19, 2017 Adjust font size:

At least five alleged facilitators involved in Thursday's fatal suicide bombing at a Shrine in south Pakistan have been arrested, local police authority said Sunday.

Inspector General A.D Khawaja, the Police Chief of Pakistan's southern Sindh province, said that three more alleged facilitators of the blast at the Lal Shahbaz Qalanadar shrine were nabbed in ongoing intelligence based operations, increasing the number of arrests to five on Sunday.

Thursday's suicide bombing has so far killed 88 persons and left over 200 others injured.

"Law enforcement agencies have conducted operations along the borders of Sindh and Balochistan provinces arresting three alleged facilitators belonging to Hafeez Barohi Group, a militant group tasked to organize Islamic State (IS) in Sindh," Khawaja said.

The police chief also said that security agencies have also identified the alleged bomber through recording of CCTV cameras installed at the Shrine, however, he declined to share any further details about the bomber and the investigation into the incident.

At least 117 persons were killed and over 300 others injured in seven bomb blasts in four days from Monday to Thursday across Pakistan as the country witnessed a sudden surge in terror attacks after a tendency of drop in such attacks since the launch of military operation in 2014.

Following the Thursday's fatal attack, Pakistani Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa blamed terrorists hiding in Afghanistan for the attacks and ordered to close the Pak-Afghan border and to launch countrywide operations in which over 140 terrorists have been killed and over 100 others arrested, including dozens of Afghan nationals.

According to local media reports, at least 11 Afghan militants were killed in a clash with Pakistani armed forces in the country's northwest tribal area of Kurram Agency at Pak-Afghan border, while police killed five terrorists in Multan district of Punjab province on Sunday.

Pakistan army claimed to have destroyed 12 terrorist camps at Pak-Afghan border during last two days, killing 37 terrorists and leaving several others injured.

Pakistan on Friday also gave a list of 76 terrorists to Afghan authorities, urging them to take action against the terrorists or hand them over to Pakistan.

Earlier on Saturday, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Shari enquired about the injured of Thursday's blast and said it is time for us to unite and fight against internal and external terrorists.

"I direct and authorize my armed forces and law enforcement agencies to eliminate the enemy whereever they are with the full force of the state," he said. Endit