Pakistani Authorities Arrest Four Suspects Linked to Terrorist Attack that Killed Chinese Engineers

Pakistan arrested four suspects linked to a terrorist attack that killed five Chinese engineers and one Pakistani driver in March. The Joint Investigation Team identified and arrested mastermind Adil Shehbaz, Muhammad Shafiq Qureshi, Zahid Qureshi, and Nazeer Hussain, who confessed his role in executing the attack. The suspects belong to the Mansehra district and are believed to be members of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The Chinese engineers were traveling to the Dasu hydroelectric project when their vehicle was targeted by a suicide bomber. The investigation continues to uncover the entire network involved in the attack.

Pakistan authorities claimed on Monday that they have arrested four suspects involved in the killing of Chinese engineers in a deadly terrorist attack last month.

Five Chinese nationals and a Pakistani driver were killed in the attack on March 26 when a vehicle-borne suicide bomber targeted a convoy escorting Chinese engineers in the remote Besham area of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but officials said that the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was involved in the attack.

The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province said that a probe by a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) exposed the network of terrorists, claiming that the ''key actors'' of the network involved in the attack have been identified.

"Four accused have been arrested...efforts are underway to capture the entire network,'' the CTD Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa said in a statement.

It identified the suspects as mastermind Adil Shehbaz, and Muhammad Shafiq Qureshi, Zahid Qureshi and Nazeer Hussain. All of them belong to the Mansehra district of the province.

The CTD said that "terrorist Shehbaz has admitted to playing a pivotal role in the execution of the Besham attack" adding that the facilitator belonged to TTP.

The Chinese engineers were on their way to the Dasu hydroelectric project from Islamabad when their van was attacked in Bisham and fell into a deep ditch after being hit by an explosive-laden vehicle, coming from the opposite direction on the Karakoram Highway.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)