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Pakistan army claims breakthrough in investigation

The authorities carried out more search operations in settlements around the university on Thursday morning and rounded up 50 suspects.

Islamabad: The Pakistan Army has claimed significant breakthrough in probe into Wednesday's terrorist attack on Bacha Khan University, Charsadda, as death toll rose to 21 with one more wounded succumbing to injuries in hospital on Thursday morning.
"We have gathered almost all relevant data on who they (attackers) were, from where they came, who supported them and who were their handlers," Lt-Gen. Asim Saleem Bajwa, director-general Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) told reporters in Peshawar late on Wednesday evening.
The authorities carried out more search operations in settlements around the university on Thursday morning and rounded up 50 suspects.
The attackers, four in number, were in touch with their handlers on a number from inside Afghanistan during the assault, the chief military spokesman said, adding that operations were ongoing to arrest their facilitators.
"The terrorists were continuously conversing on their mobile phones, two of which we have recovered and collected data from," he added.
Lt-Gen. Bajwa said the SIMs used in the phones were of Afghan origin. He added that a mobile phone recovered from one of the attackers was receiving calls even after he had been killed.
The ISPR chief said that as many as 52 security personnel were present on the campus at the time of attack. Some of these officials resisted the attackers which saved many lives. The army travelled from Peshawar to Charsadda within 45 minutes and together with police and guards stopped the terrorists from entering the university hall where several hundred students and guests had already gathered for the poetry recital to mark the death anniversary of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan.
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