4 arrested in connection with Lahore suicide bombing

Four suspects believed to be involved in the Lahore Sufi shrine bombing that killed 12 people have been arrested.

The suspects were picked up on Thursday night when the security forces raided Lahore's Garhi Shahu area after tracing the alleged suicide bomber to the locality, Dawn online reported on Friday.

The suspects are believed to have been in contact with the individuals behind the suicide blast which targeted a police patrol stationed outside the entrance of Data Darbar shrine and claimed the lives of a dozen people including six police officials.

Officials said one of the arrested suspects was a rickshaw driver who transported the teenage suicide bomber to Data Darbar. They said investigators had pieced together CCTV footage from across the city to determine the movement of the attacker.

The Thursday raid focused on a tea stall which opened in the Garhi Shahu area a little over three months ago, according to the Express Tribune. The stall came to investigators' attention after the bomber was seen there in one of the CCTV clips.

The Wednesday bombing on the shrine was claimed by the Hizbul Ahrar, a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban.

--IANS

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