Daily Times

Punjab Police’s Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) has arrested two suspects allegedly involved in the deadly blast in Lahore’s crowded Anarkali area earlier this year, it emerged on Tuesday.

On January 20, three people were killed and over 30 injured in the blast in Lahore’s Anarkali bazaar, which law enforcement agencies had initially believed was a gas cylinder explosion. Subsequent investigations determined that it was a bomb blast. The Baloch Nationalist Army, a newly emerged terror outfit, had claimed responsibility for the blast.

The Punjab police on Tuesday said the “terrorist network” was busted through the services of the Safe City Authority, intelligence and other technical methods.

In a statement, it said the two suspects – identified as Sana Ullah and Abdul Razziq – were arrested when they reached Lahore from Balochistan via truck. It added that the pair was planning to conduct two bomb blasts in Lahore in a single day.

Two detonators for prepared improved explosive devices, a primacord, remote control and batteries were recovered from the individuals, the police said. “The terrorist links go back to an anti-state agency. Anti-state elements in a neighbouring country got this blast carried out after planning,” the police said.

Separately, a press release later issued by the CTD said the two confessed to their involvement in the Anarkali blast and subsequently, a first information report was registered at the CTD police station in Lahore.

The CTD said that all the main suspects of the blast had been arrested and the department’s investigation team would “leave no stone unturned” to ensure their conviction through a legal process.

In March, six terrorists linked to the blast were killed during an exchange of fire in the general area of Nagao Mountains in Balochistan’s Sibi.