Naqvi says 4, including mastermind of attack on imambargah in Islamabad, arrested during raids in KP

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said on Saturday that four facilitators of the suicide attack on an imambargah in Islamabad, including the “main mastermind”, had been arrested during raids in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He made the remarks while speaking to the media in Islamabad. In his media talk, the minister said that operations were underway all of last night to trace those behind the attack.

Making special mention of the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police for their joint efforts, he said, “All those people linked to this, and the mastermind, at around 3am, all of them were apprehended.”

He lauded all “agencies”, saying that this incident was a “test case”.

“After the blast, raids were carried out in Nowshera and Peshawar, in which four facilitators were caught. And their mastermind, who is an Afghan, was also caught,” he said.

He said that an assistant sub-inspector of KP police was martyred during the raids, while others were injured.

“But the main mastermind is linked to Daesh and is in our custody,” he said. The minister further said that the planning and training for the attack was done by “Daesh Afghanistan” and carried out in the neighbouring country.

“We have people who are telling us details about how he (the attacker) went there and how he was trained,” he said. He again lauded law enforcement agencies on the achievement.

“We have been saying for a while that whether it be Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Afghan Taliban, Daesh or other kharji terrorist organisations — they are all working together. At this time, 21 terrorist bodies’ setups … name any terrorist body, it is operating from Afghanistan,” he said.

The minister further said that he had two requests for the public.

“We are in a state of war; be it in Balochistan, KP or elsewhere. The intelligence [from] the community matters the most. When people get to know about an unknown person living in their community, report it to the police — when this system is activated, [terror incidents] will decrease,” he said.

“Secondly, I received a message last night from someone asking where the security agencies were and why this incident happened. I can tell you that if one blast happens, 99 others are being foiled,” he said.

“I spoke with the agencies and told them that we should share this with the media. It may spread panic but I said that we should share with the media which incidents were foiled,” he said.

The interior minister further said that the names of Daesh and Taliban were coming up but “someone was funding them” and giving them targets.

“They would get $500 but now they’re getting $1,500. Someone’s increasing their budget,” he said.

“I say again with clarity that all of their funding comes from India. India is giving them all the targets; they are planning each and everything behind the scenes. These organisations are at the front, while India is at the back,” he said.

He said that while the world may stay silent for now, it would in the future agree with Pakistan’s stance.

Raids in KP

Earlier in the day, security sources had stated the same. According to sources, a police officer was martyred, and three other security personnel were injured during the raids. Among those arrested is the alleged Afghan mastermind, affiliated with the banned Islamic State (IS).

The raids, based on technical and human intelligence, were conducted in connection with the ongoing investigation to arrest those involved in the Islamabad imambargah suicide bombing, according to the police sources.

“Intelligence and law enforcement agencies conducted raids and made arrests in Peshawar and Nowshera,” confirmed security sources.

The raid in Nowshera was conducted in the Hakeemabad area of the district, according to police officials.

An official of the Nowshera police said that during a late-night operation, following leads on possible facilitators of the Islamabad suicide bombing, an exchange of fire took place between law enforcement agencies and the suspected militants.

“Yes, a raid was conducted in the district, and an exchange of fire took place. An assistant sub-inspector was martyred and a constable sustained injuries in the crossfire,” the police official confirmed.

The official, who requested anonymity, added that the raid was conducted as part of an ongoing probe against those involved in the Islamabad suicide bombing and that “it was not Nowshera police alone that took part in the operation”.

He, however, refused to share further details.

Friday’s attack comes less than three months after a suicide blast outside a district and sessions court building in Islamabad’s G-11 area on November 11, 2025. Twelve people were killed and more than 30 were injured in the blast.

It attack was the deadliest in the capital since September 2008, when 60 people were killed in a suicide truck bomb blast that destroyed part of the five-star Marriott hotel.

Additional input from Umer Farooq