Pakistani police said Wednesday it killed three suspected militants allegedly involved in last week's suicide bombing at a Shia mosque in northwestern Peshawar that killed 62 and injured nearly 200.
Peshawar Police Chief Ijaz Khan told reporters that the suspects, including the "main handler," were killed in a security operation near Khyber tribal district, the gateway to neighboring Afghanistan.
The handler, Khan claimed, was involved in guiding the suspected suicide bomber who blew himself up in the middle of worshippers during Friday prayers at the mosque in the historic Kissa Khuwani Bazaar.
The Daesh terror group claimed responsibility for the bombing, which ranked as one of the deadliest attacks in Peshawar, the capital of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The bombing followed a string of similar attacks in war-torn Afghanistan, which border lies about an hour from where several Shia mosques were targeted after the Taliban took control of the country last August.
The latest attack has stoked fears of terrorism returning to Peshawar, which after being a longtime hotbed of terrorism, has been peaceful for the past several years amid improving security in the South Asian country.
While the investigation is underway, "some facilitators" of the suspected bomber have also been arrested with the help of the CCTV footage, the official said.
