PESHAWAR: A policeman has been arrested in connection with facilitating a deadly suicide bomb attack targeting a mosque in a security compound in northwestern Pakistan.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General of Police (IG) Akhtar Hayat Gandapur announced the arrest of police constable Mohammad Wali at a news conference in the provincial capital, Peshawar, on Tuesday.
The provincial police chief said that the facilitator, who was taken into custody on Monday from the Jamil Chowk area of the capital, was identified as a former police constable from Peshawar district. During interrogation, he confessed to his role in the attack, the police chief stated.
Wali shared the mosque map, helped in target identification, conducted reconnaissance, and dropped off the suicide bomber at the compound for the January 29, 2023, attack, which killed 84 people—mostly police officers.
Akhtar Hayat Gandapur said that the arrested suspect is associated with the banned terrorist organisation Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and had previously held meetings with its members and spokesperson, Mohammad Khurasani.
During interrogation, Mohammad Wali revealed that in 2021, he was contacted on Facebook by a man named “Junaid,” who was a recruitment agent for the banned terrorist group Jamaat-ul-Ahrar.
Junaid, based in Afghanistan, was using social media to recruit members for the group. He invited Wali to meet him in Afghanistan, and in 2021, Wali took leave from his duties and travelled via the Chaman border to meet Junaid in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
“The suspect operated under the orders of the banned organisation Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and received Rs 200,000 through the hundi-hawala system,” the KP IG said, adding that the policeman was also receiving Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 per month from the banned group.
“He received Rs 200,000, which cost the lives of hundreds of people who were martyred in the Peshawar Lines mosque blast. He sold his [own] brothers for this,” the IG added.
He said that the accused had joined the police force in 2019 and took leave to go to Afghanistan three years ago.
“The accused used to place the suicide vests and explosive material at designated locations and then inform the organization,” the IG said.
The prime suspect, Wali, has confessed to involvement in several other terrorist activities, including multiple IED attacks on Warsak Road in 2023-2024, a grenade attack in Ghulani Market (Dec 2023), and the January 2022 murder of a Christian pastor in Peshawar.
In 2024, Wali facilitated several more crimes, including providing a pistol for the murder of an Ahmadi man in Lahore (Feb 2024), supplying firearms for the killing of two police officers in March, and providing explosives for attacks in Peshawar.
He also assisted in sending a suicide bomber to Lahore in June 2024, but the bomber was arrested before carrying out the attack.
During the raid, police also recovered two suicide vests.
The police chief said that this is part of a hybrid war, adding that the accused acted alone, which is why it took time to trace him. He emphasised that the police conduct regular background checks before recruitment, but dealing with terrorism is an ongoing effort.
“Social media is used to influence minds,” the IG said, noting that Khyber and southern districts, in particular, face challenges.
“The police personnel are being provided with modern technologies,” the police chief said, adding, “All agencies are working together.”
