Security forces personnel stand guard as members of the media film from a coordoned area following a deadly explosion at a Shia Muslim 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 terrorist attack at an imambargah in Islamabad’s Tarlai area, as security agencies intensified operations across the country, intelligence sources said.
According to the sources, the alleged suicide bomber, Yasir Khan, a resident of Peshawar, had remained in contact with his brother-in-law, Usman. Yasir’s two brothers, Bilal and Nasir, along with Usman, were arrested from the Tarnab Farm area. Earlier, officials said the bomber’s brother had been detained in Peshawar, while his brother-in-law was picked up during operations linked to the case.
A key facilitator associated with the attack was killed in an operation in Nowshera, the sources said. The most significant arrest, according to intelligence officials, was that of the bomber’s mother, who was taken into custody from a house in a posh sector of Islamabad. Authorities said nationwide operations were under way to dismantle the terrorist network behind the attack.
Investigators have also pieced together the bomber’s movements in the months leading up to the attack. Intelligence sources said Yasir travelled to Afghanistan in May and returned in June. He later went to Bajaur in June, where he activated a SIM card. From June 27 to October, he stayed in Bajaur before moving to Hakeemabad in Nowshera.
Police sources said the alleged bomber carried out reconnaissance of the imambargah on February 2, days before the suicide attack.
Also read: Bomber identified as Peshawar resident ‘trained in Afghanistan’
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 worshippers gathered for Jumma prayers.
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, who had travelled to Afghanistan multiple 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 centre in Afghanistan’s northeastern Kunar province and travelled to and from the country multiple times,” sources told The Express Tribune.
Minister of State for Interior 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 about how many times he had travelled to Afghanistan,” he said.
State broadcaster PTV News said on X that terrorist groups present in Afghanistan pose a wider regional security threat and claimed a nexus between Afghanistan and India behind attacks in Pakistan, an allegation Kabul has denied.
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif echoed those 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 travelled to and from Afghanistan and that evidence was emerging of links between India and the Taliban.
He termed the perpetrators “enemies of both religion and the nation” and said the state would respond with full force.
