Islamabad: Pakistani authorities on WEdnesday offered “suitable rewards” for identification of two terrorists who were among nine attackers killed during a brazen assault on the Kamra airbase.
An advertisement in this regard appeared on the front pages of newspapers along with colour photos of the two bearded men killed in the August 16 attack on the airbase in Punjab province along with seven other attackers and two Pakistan Air Force (PAF) personnel.
Information on the two men could be provided to a telephone number of the Defence Ministry and the identity of the informer would be kept secret, the advertisement said.
Apart from the killing of nine terrorists and two PAF personnel during the attack on Kamra airbase, a rocket- propelled grenade fired by the attackers had damaged a Saab-2000 surveillance aircraft.
The banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was carried out to avenge the killing of militant commander Baitullah Mehsud and al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said that all the attackers were Pakistanis and that the planning for the raid could be traced back to North and South Waziristan tribal regions.
Police in Attock province of Punjab have so far identified three of the attackers, including alleged mastermind Faisal Shehzad.
The three men were residents of Taxila, Kasur and Sialkot, police officials said. The alleged mastermind was a former civilian employee of an organisation in Wah cantonment.
Attock district police chief Muhammad Hilal Khan has told the media that an ex-serviceman associated with the nursing profession had been arrested in connection with the attack. This suspect provided a “major breakthrough” in the investigation as he was a close friend of Faisal Shehzad, Khan said.
The three militants were identified through the records of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) by using their thumb impressions and fingerprints.
According to NADRA’s records, they were 32-year-old Faisal Shehzad of Taxila, Mohammad Anis of Kasur district and Taimoor Butt of Sialkot district. Faisal Shehzad had links with the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. Police had arrested him for alleged involvement in an attack by two suicide bombers at the Pakistan Ordnance Factory at Wah in August 2008 that had killed nearly 70 people. He was released due to lack of evidence. (PTI)