The Lahore police on Wednesday claimed to have arrested one of the seven suspects in the March 3 attack on the Sri Lankan team besides identifying its mastermind.
The suspect Nek Mohammad also made a sensational statement to the press that he and his colleagues stayed for two days in Mansoora prior to the attack, the headquarters of right-wing Jamaat Islami that is bitterly opposed to the military operation against the Taliban.
“We have broken up a Punjabi Taliban network and we have arrested an attacker who shot dead a policeman,” Lahore police chief Pervez Rathor told reporters. He said his name is Nek Mohammad, alias Zuber, who comes from Dera Ghazi Khan in southern Punjab.
Nek Mohammad identified Aqeel, alias Dr Usman, saying he was the mastermind of the attack who had direct links with Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud.
However, a Jamaat-e-Islami spokesman immediately repudiated the claim and said it had nothing to do with Dr Aqeel or his accomplices. "We have no clue who is Aqeel or Nek Mohammad and nobody bearing those names ever stayed in Mansoora" he said.
