'Mastermind, handler' of Peshawar mosque attack traced; TTP faction involved in blast KP police.

The Additional Inspector General of Police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Shaukat Abbas, said on Friday that the Counter Terrorism Department has apprehended a key suspect linked to the Peshawar mosque bombing that killed dozens in January as he attributed the attack to a splinter faction of the proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

On Jan 30, a powerful explosion ripped through a mosque in Peshawar's Red Zone area where between 300 and 400 people - mostly police officers - had gathered for prayers. The suicide blast blew away the wall of the prayer hall and an inner roof and claimed 84 lives.

The outlawed TTP had initially claimed responsibility for the attack. However, it later distanced itself from it but sources earlier indicated that it might have been the handiwork of some local faction of the outlawed group.

Addressing a press conference today, the senior KP police official asserted that the TTP's group Jamaat-ul-Ahrar was behind the incident. 'The bomber who carried out the attack is known as 'Qari' in the TTP circles,' the official added.

He said that the suspect detained by law enforcement officials was a 'backup suicide bomber' who would have been used as a secondary option during the attack in case the first bomber failed to detonate his vest.

The suspect was identified as Imtiaz Khan...