Please Read the report
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Multiple shots killed ‘would-be bomber’ in minutes

By Munawer Azeem

ISLAMABAD: The suspected would-be bomber, who was killed by the police at the weekend, received multiple shots fired from different directions and died within minutes, a senior officer told Dawn here on Thursday.

‘He died at the scene within two to three minutes after being shot by the police,’ the officer who has seen the post-mortem report said on the condition of anonymity.

The revelation again raised the question that if the alleged bomber survived for a couple of minutes then why did not he detonate his explosives. Police dismissed any suspicion by claiming that he failed to blow himself up because the triggering mechanism of his vest ‘malfunctioned.’

According to the senior police officer, the ‘would-be bomber’ had 15 entry, exit and graze wounds caused by shots fired from three directions.

Six wounds were on the right side of the face, three on the left, and one each on the back of his skull, front of the left shoulder, left palm, backsides of both hands, and the left elbow, the officer said.

Five bullets were retrieved from his body – four from the skull and one from shoulder.

‘He sustained multiple bullet injuries to his face and skull which damaged his brain, leading to death,’ he said. ‘The entire skull was fractured except the left parietal and left occipital bone. Brain and membranes were ruptured and cranial cavity was full of blood.’

The officer said the suspect’s age was around 25 and he sported a beard. Having a good physique, the man was five feet and two inches tall and had a mole on the back of his neck. He wore black shalwar kameez, grey jersey, black socks and black-and-grey joggers, he added.

‘Clothes, shoes, five bullets, bone samples, hair for DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and distal portion of both thumbs have been handed over to police,’ the officer said.

Initial statements by the police posted at the checkpoint, which were later reiterated by senior police officials, including Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kaleem Imam, said the suspected would-be bomber alighted from a vehicle and dashed towards the post. ‘It was at this point that he was taken out by a sharpshooter,’ IGP Imam had told DawnNews. However, he later denied using the word ‘sharpshooter’.

In practice a sharpshooter fires only a single shot at his target but in this particular case, the suspect had five entry wounds and four graze wounds, suggesting at least nine shots were fired at him.

Sources said six policemen, including Shalimar police SHO Altaf Aziz Khattak who shot the ‘bomber’, were present at the post when the incident took place. They had at least one sub-machine gun and three pistols.

An eyewitness said the suspect’s body was found lying up to 20 feet from the checkpoint, which was on the other side of the road. His face was also towards the opposite direction.

Police claimed that the vehicle carrying the suspect appeared on the road leading to Golra, while the checkpoint was on the other side of the road.

Please read IGP’s clarification and TheNation’s rejoinder

IGP denies while TheNation stands by

ISLAMABAD – A spokesman of the Islamabad Police has issued following denial to TheNation’s story titled “Fake encounter to save IGP?”

“It is incorrect that police had arrested the person few days ago. There is no pressure on any police officer to formulate any script to uphold these appointments or image. No conspiracy has been hatched whatsoever. Live courage has shown from the scene of crime that it took about more than one hour to defuse around 8-1/2 kg explosives attach to detonators/stainless steel bearing.

In fact, the brave police officers on duty without caring for their lives daringly challenged the suicide bomber and killed him on the spot before he could trigger explosives. Such unfair criticism would only demoralise the force and the protectors of the city would think several times before reacting to any such threat in future, which will only but jeopardise the security of Islamabad. It is requested that more empathy may be accorded to the brave policemen who performed their duty risking their lives.”

Standing by the story Our Staff Reporter adds: In the first place this is to clarify that there was nothing personal or biased against the IGP as the information was gathered from multiple as well as reliable sources both within and outside the Islamabad Police. This scribe in addition to our crime reporter was assigned by the Editor to do in-depth follow-up of the encounter in the capital late Sunday evening.

Before moving on to the follow-up information about the story, it would be interesting to have a closer look at the denial issued by the Islamabad Police. Rather than giving details supporting the proclaimed encounter, the spokesman of the Police has resorted to condemn the report. The police in the above rebuttal has also given a between the line threat that such reports would demoralise “the protectors of the city.”

The haste with which the police buried the person killed as an alleged terrorist itself raises a number of suspicions as the body parts of previous bombers are still preserved in the mortuary of PIMS. It is however thought provoking that the administration at the PIMS is fed up of preserving the body parts of the suicide bombers, while the police appeared to be in a hurry to burry this one.

As regards the claim of live coverage of the incident, it is important to note here that no video footage showing the details of the actual encounter was available with any of the media.

Contrary to the usual techniques and practices adopted by the suicide bombers across the country as observed by the law enforcement agencies, the alleged suicide bomber strangely raised the slogan of Allah-o-Akbar 25 feet away from the police picket, his supposed target. Therefore, this unusual, according to security experts, behaviour of the alleged terrorist as reported by the police makes the entire incident as a bizarre episode raising several questions.

The IGP’s own somersaults in his statements lessened the credibility of police’s claim. Firstly, IGP had claimed that a police sharpshooter at the picket killed the alleged suicide bomber, later on he twisted his statement by correcting himself that it was the ordinary police staff deployed at picket.

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Probe into killing of ’suicide bomber’ being avoided

ISLAMABAD – Islamabad Capital Territory Administration (ICTA) has started shifting the responsibility from one shoulder to another to probe into the killing of a suspect suicide bomber by the Capital Police on Sunday.

In a recent development, Chief Commissioner ICTA Fazeel Asghar has appointed Additonal Deputy Commissioner General (ADCG) Rana Akbar Hayat as the inquiry officer to probe the shooting of an alleged suicide bomber.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik had ordered an inquiry on Tuesday appointing the Chief Commissioner Islamabad as inquiry officer after media reports that the person the police claimed to be a suspected suicide bomber and killed near E-11 police picket was already under the custody of the police and was subjected to extra judicial killing.