Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Tuesday said banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan’s (TTP) chief Noor Wali Mehsud planned the November 11 suicide blast outside Islamabad’s Judicial Complex.
The attack killed 12 people and injured 35 others, with the government saying days later that it had arrested four terrorists belonging to the TTP.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Tarar detailed the correspondence between these four facilitators and TTP commanders in Afghanistan. Displaying their pictures, Tarar identified them as the suicide bomber’s handler Sajidullah alias Sheena, Kamran Khan, Muhammad Zali and Shah Munir.
The minister said Mehsud “planned this attack through his commander Daadullah”, whom Sajidullah met in 2023, 2024 and in August 2025 as well. He added that Daadullah and Sajidullah “remained in touch through an app”.
Tarar identified Daadullah as a resident of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bajaur, adding that he was currently in Afghanistan.
He also played a video statement of the man he identified as Sajidullah, who the minister said arranged the suicide jacket and brought the bomber, Usman Shinwari, to the site of the attack.
“He was planning this incident in collaboration with Noor Wali Mehsud’s commander Daadullah. Their target was to carry out such an act in either Rawalpindi or Islamabad,” Tarar said, highlighting that the country evaded a “major loss”.
The minister said Sajidullah joined the TTP in 2015 and received training in various TTP camps across Afghanistan. He also visited the neighbouring country’s Jalalabad city in 2024.
During his 2024 visit, Sajidullah met Daadullah to “plan this suicide bombing and hired two more people upon his return”, who were Zali and Khan.
Then, in August 2025, Sajidullah and Zali visited Afghanistan together, Tarar said. According to the minister, they first met TTP militant Abdullah Jan alias Abu Hamza in Shigal district, where they stayed overnight, then met Daadullah in Kabul’s Arzan Qimat neighbourhood.
“Daadullah conveyed the orders of Noor Wali Mehsud to them, that they have to carry out a suicide bombing in the areas of Rawalpindi, Islamabad,” Tarar said.
“Once back in Pakistan, Sajidullah met with Shinwari, the suicide bomber,” who Tarar said was a resident of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province.
Detailing the correspondence between Sajidullah and Shinwari, the information minister said they scouted multiple locations but “failed to reach their target” due to security. “There is no doubt in the fact that all of this was orchestrated from Afghanistan. Daadullah is present in Afghanistan, [and] the main perpetrator, named Sajidullah, was also trained in Afghanistan.”
Tarar further said that the bomber was also a resident of Afghanistan.
After playing Sajidullah’s video statement, Tarar asserted, “This is very clear-cut evidence that the TTA (Tehreek-i-Taliban Afghanistan) and the TTP jointly did this.”
The minister said the four men arrested had “some role in some capacity in the suicide bombing”. He noted that the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) and the Intelligence Bureau (ID) had arrested them within 48 hours of the incident during a joint operation.
He said a “huge racket” had been uncovered through the arrests of these four terrorists, terming it a huge success for the CTD and the IB.
The PML-N leader affirmed that security and law enforcement agencies, along with the armed forces, were fully active to eliminate terrorism.
In the video statement played during the press conference, the man identified as Sajidullah said he went to Afghanistan in 2016, met Abu Hamza and returned to Pakistan after receiving training for a month.
Sajidullah said he met with Abu Hamza during his 2023 visit to Kunar, and then days later, went to Daadullah’s hideout, who “brainwashed and forced me to take an oath of allegiance”.
“Six months ago, Daadullah contacted us and told us to come to Afghanistan and told me to bring my friend along as well,”he said, adding that subsequently, he and Zali headed to Jalalabad.
They met with Daadullah at his residence, where the TTP commander tasked them with transporting the suicide jacket provided by him to the bomber, according to Sajidullah’s account.
“We came to Peshawar and went to Akhun Baba Graveyard,” Sajidullah said, adding that he picked the jacket from there and entrusted it to Munir to “keep it safe”.
A few days later, Sajidullah continued, he was informed that a man from Afghanistan named Usman would contact him. “He stayed with me for one to two days. I said he was a guest when my family members asked about him,” Sajidullah said, adding that he later had Munir provide shelter to Usman.
However, Munir also said he could not leave Usman alone with his children, and therefore, Munir’s “cousin” Zali rented a room from a man named Muhammad Ali, Sajidullah added.
He further said he told the suicide bomber to arrange his accommodation on his own after 15 to 25 days had passed. Then, on November 11, the day of the blast, Sajidullah said he picked up the jacket from Munir, and both of them, along with Zali, “made [Usman] wear the jacket”.