The attacker had stayed in Afghanistan for approximately five months before returning to Pakistan
Security personnel stand guard outside a mosque following an explosion, in Islamabad on February 6, 2026. Photo: AFP
ISLAMABAD:
As investigators piece together the trail behind the deadly suicide bombing at Islamabad’s Imambargah Khadijah al-Kubra, authorities have identified the attacker as a resident of Peshawar who received training in Afghanistan, shedding new light on the cross-border origins of terror in the country.
According to preliminary information shared by sources close to the investigation, the attacker, identified as Yasir Khan Yasir, had stayed in Afghanistan for approximately five months before returning to Pakistan.
Investigators are also examining possible links between the attacker and the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), though they caution that inquiries remain ongoing at this stage.
Yasir Khan, who was inclined towards the Salafi school of thought, is believed to have received militant training during his stay in Afghanistan. “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.
Authorities said efforts were underway to uncover the full network behind the attack, including identifying facilitators, handlers and any domestic or cross-border connections that may have enabled the operation.
Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry also 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 added.
State broadcaster PTV News, in a post on social media platform X, stated that terrorist groups present in Afghanistan pose a broader regional security threat and claimed a nexus between Afghanistan and India behind attacks in Pakistan — an allegation that Kabul has denied.
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif echoed those claims, blaming what he described as an “India-Afghanistan nexus” for the imambargah carnage. In a post on X, he said it had been established that the attacker had travelled to and from Afghanistan and that evidence was emerging of links between India and the Taliban.
He termed the perpetrators as “enemies of both religion and the nation” and pledged that the state would respond to the attack with full force.
Referring to the May 2025 military confrontation between Pakistan and India, he wrote that after a humiliating defeat, India was now fighting through proxies and no longer had the courage to engage in direct warfare.
Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry said 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.
Addressing the broader pattern of terrorism across the country, Chaudhry said, “There is a consistent pattern in these attacks: on one hand, terrorism is carried out in the name of religion by individuals, while on the other, groups such as the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) engage in violence based on ethnicity and provincialism”.
Talal Chaudhry called the perpetrators of recent terrorist attacks “cowards” who deliberately target soft spots such as markets, schools, mosques, imambargahs, banks and other facilities meant for ordinary citizens.
He also reaffirmed that the implementation of the National Action Plan was continuing without compromise. “This is a war we are determined to win, and we are winning it. That is why they focus on soft targets rather than hard ones,” he said.
