Perpetrators behind the recent terror attack on a mosque in Sialkot have been arrested, said Punjab Inspector General of Police Dr Usman Anwar on Friday, levelling blame on a “rogue nation’s hostile intelligence agency”.

Addressing a press conference in Lahore, Dr Anwar said that the attack was “planned outside Pakistan”. He did not name the nation allegedly responsible for the shooting in a mosque in Daska, Sialkot, which claimed at least two lives earlier this week.

The mosque in-charge Shahid, reportedly a religious activist associated with a proscribed organization and his security guard Hashim were killed on the spot when three terrorists opened fire inside the Jamia Masjid Al-Noor located in Mandiki Goraya within the limits of Saddar Police Station during Fajr prayers.

Another worshipper, Abdul Ahad, was critically injured and shifted to Gujranwala because of the severity of his condition. At least six unidentified gunmen were involved in the attack that took place on October 11 with three of them carrying out the fatal shooting.

“The perpetrators were identified by the unity of purpose of the law enforcement agencies,” said Dr Anwar. “Most of them have been arrested. The state of Pakistan through its law enforcement agencies will expose the rogue nation to the world.”

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The Punjab police chief warned the “rats” hatching conspiracies against Pakistan, saying that they should be ready to now be exposed for their “evil deeds”. The Foreign Office and other institutions are working towards this, according to Dr Anwar.

The IGP said that law enforcement agencies, including police, the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Military Intelligence (MI) are working together not only to trace the suspected perpetrators behind this incident but also to thwart further attacks.

He added that the arrested culprits behind the shooting in Daska mosque will be presented before the court.

“This attack was planned outside Pakistan. A hostile intelligence agency sent a person to Pakistan. We have all the records about who is the person who came here, who he met, and even his geo-location. They came here between October 6 to October 9 and executed the plan on October 11,” he said, sharing details of the attack.

The IGP declared that the hostile nation would be identified in his next press conference and the police would reveal the names of the three shooters and their facilitators as well.

“We have all kinds of evidence, including data from Booking.com and other sites. Our constables went and searched hotels,” he added.

“We, along with the CTD, have collected irrefutable evidence which we will present to the media and court,” said the IGP.

Daska shooting

Two worshippers were martyred while another was seriously injured after three unidentified gunmen opened fire in a mosque during Fajr prayer in Daska on Wednesday.

The mishap occurred in Mandiki Goraya area of Saddar police station.

According to details, six terrorists riding motorcycles arrived at Jama Masjid Al-Noor of whom three entered the mosque during Fajr.

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They stood in a row with other people to offer prayers. Around 12 to 13 worshippers were present in the mosque at the time. When the second Rakat of the prayers started, the terrorists opened indiscriminate fire on the worshippers with pistols.

Mosque in-charge Shahid and his guard Hashim were killed on the sport while Imam Abdul Ahad sustained injuries and was later shifted to Gujranwala because of the severity of his condition.

A heavy contingent of police including DPO Sialkot Muhammad Hassan Iqbal, DSP Saadat Ali and SHO Saddar police station arrived at the crime scene.

The DPO stated that all the evidence related to the incident had been collected and the area had been cordoned off.

Police registered a case under Sections 302, 324, 148, 149 and 7ATA against the six unidentified people.

Taking notice of the incident, Punjab IGP had sought a report from Gujranwala RPO and directed the DPO to constitute a special team for the immediate arrest of the accused.

Shahid hailed from Eimanabad, Hashim from Bhakkar and Abdul Ahad belonged to Lodhran.

The terrorists were aged between 22-23 years.