Policeman arrested for facilitating suicide attack in Pakistan’s Peshawar in 2023

Peshawar, Nov 12 (PTI) A Pakistani policeman has been arrested for facilitating a lethal suicide bombing in the country's restive northwestern Peshawar city in 2023, which killed over 100 people, mostly policemen.
     Inspector General of Police Akhat Hayat Khan Gandapur on Tuesday confirmed that Muhammad Wali alias Umar, a police constable from Peshawar, was the "main facilitator and target killer" of the January 30, 2023, attack in in a high-security Police Lines area.
     More than 100 people, including 86 policemen were killed in the attack while 223 others were injured.
     The provincial police chief said Wali was arrested in an intelligence-based operation from Jamil Chowk on Ring Road, Peshawar district.
     Wali, who confessed to facilitating the bombing, escorted the bomber, an Afghan national, into the Peshawar Police Lines area. 
     He joined the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar in 2019 and was recruited via Facebook, Gandapur said, adding that Wali received Rs 2 lakh for the attack.
     In 2021, Wali visited Afghanistan and met the leadership of the group.
     The blast occurred when the suicide bomber blew himself up inside the mosque in the Police Lines area when worshippers, including personnel of the police, army and bomb disposal squad, were offering the Zuhr (afternoon) prayers.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)