Security forces personnel stand guard as members of the media film from a coordinated area after a deadly explosion at a Shiite mosque in Islamabad, Pakistan, February 7, 2026. PHOTO: REUTERS
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistani authorities have arrested close relatives of the suicide bomber who carried out the deadly attack at an imambargah in Islamabad’s Tarlai area, as security agencies launched operations across the country, intelligence sources said.
According to the sources, the suicide bomber’s brother-in-law was arrested in Karachi, while his brother was arrested in Peshawar. A key facilitator linked to the attack was killed during an operation in Nowshera.
The most significant arrest, the sources said, was that of the bomber’s mother, who was detained from a house in a posh part of Islamabad. Intelligence agencies said operations were underway nationwide to dismantle the network behind the attack.
At least 32 people were killed and around 169 others injured when a suicide bomber struck Imambargah Khadijah al-Kubra during Friday prayers, according to authorities and hospital officials. The blast, accompanied by explosions and gunfire, occurred as worshipers gathered for Jumma prayers.
Also read: Bombers identified as Peshawar resident ‘trained in Afghanistan’
The attack was the deadliest in Islamabad in more than a decade and the deadliest in the country since the Peshawar mosque bombing in January 2023.
Investigators have identified the attacker as Yasir Khan, a Peshawar resident who had traveled to Afghanistan several times and received training there. According to preliminary information shared by sources close to the investigation, he stayed in Afghanistan for about five months before returning to Pakistan.
“He received training at the Mansoor Istashhadi training center in Afghanistan’s northeastern Kunar province and traveled to and from the country several times,” sources said. Express Pakinomist.
Interior Minister Talal Chaudhry confirmed that the bomber had been identified. “He is not an Afghan citizen, but forensic examination of the remaining parts of his body has provided information on how many times he had traveled to Afghanistan,” he said.
The state television company PTV News it said X that terrorist groups present in Afghanistan pose a broader regional security threat and alleged a link between Afghanistan and India behind attacks in Pakistan, a claim Kabul has denied.
Defense Minister Khawaja Asif echoed these claims, blaming what he described as an “India-Afghanistan nexus” for the imambargah attack. In a post on X, he said it had been established that the attacker traveled to and from Afghanistan and that evidence of links between India and the Taliban had emerged.
He called the perpetrators “enemies of both religion and nation” and said the state would respond with full force.
