Lal Masjid brigade may be linked to F-8 attack

ISLAMABAD: Police sleuths working to track down the perpetrators of the brutal attack at Islamabad’s district courts on Monday believe a terror outfit, Ghazi Force, may be behind it, it is learnt.

Ghazi Force was named after the cleric of the Lal Masjid who was killed during the military operation in 2007. The force which emerged soon after 2007 was mainly formed by former students of the Lal Mosque.

Investigators claim that the force is currently using Miranshah as its main base to carry out its activities in the settled areas of the country.“Though we have no concrete evidence against this organisation but we have observed the modus operandi of the attacks which is similar to the Ghazi Force,” said a key official involved in the ongoing investigations.

The source added that lately Ghazi Force had appointed a commander named Hilal to look after the operations in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Police and the intelligence agencies had conducted number of operations for his arrest in the past but each time he evaded them.

Police and the law enforcement agencies have also found some unrecognized parts of the faces of two suicide bombers who blew themselves up in the premises of the district courts. Thus they are facing difficulties in identifying them through a special system installed in the National Database Registration Authority (Nadra).

Investigators have already found the limbs of the terrorists from the crime scene. The sources within the investigation team claim that they are clear about the two attackers but are still confused if there were more people or not.

Investigators have concluded that the terrorists entered in the F-8 Courts using the Capital Development Authority (CDA)’s ground adjacent to the courts. The ground was recently occupied illegally by lawyers for constructing their chambers.

More than 20 under-construction chambers have been abandoned. “We cannot rule out the possibility that the terrorists could have used this under-construction structure as their hideout for a night stay before the attack,” a key officer involved in the investigation admitted to this correspondent while requesting anonymity.