Police officer arrested over deadly 2023 suicide bombing at Pakistan mosque

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A police officer has been arrested in connection with facilitating a suicide bomb attack at a mosque on the premises of a police compound in northwest Pakistan.

Provincial police chief Akhtar Hayyat announced the arrest of police constable Mohammad Wali at a news conference in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, on Tuesday.

Wali, who worked with the Peshawar police, is alleged to have shared a map of the compound with the suicide bomber who carried out an attack on the mosque on Jan. 29, 2023, killing 101 people, mostly police officers, and wounding 250 others.

Hayyat said Wali had joined the outlawed Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban, which orchestrated the attack, in 2023. The arrest was made in a raid on Monday and Wali had confessed to his role in the attack, the chief added.

Police last year released CCTV images from the blast scene showing the suicide bomber in a police uniform approaching the site pushing a motorcycle, giving the impression it had broken down. Hayyat said it is alleged that the uniform had been provided by Wali.

The assault on the mosque inside the police facility was one of the deadliest attacks on security forces in recent years.