The Joint Investigation Team probing the deadly Marriott blast on Thursday arrested a taxi driver from the jurisdiction of Airport Police Station in Rawalpindi, who is alleged to have facilitated the planning and execution of the suicide attack, which killed more than 70 people and left over 200 injured.
Well-placed sources told Business Recorder that the investigators interrogated the six people - all belonging to tribal areas - who were detained in police custody on Saturday trying to flee the site of the blast while injured. They provided information regarding the taxi driver, who facilitated the suicide bombers and provided them help to make the mission possible, they said.
Official investigators declined to give the name of the detained cab driver and the exact location from where he was arrested. But they termed it a big breakthrough in identifying those responsible for the explosion. They were hopeful that the masterminds of the deadly terrorist attack, which jolted the federal capital, would be arrested soon.
Official sources said that 6 more suicide bombers with explosive laden vehicles were already in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad and maintained that intelligence information has revealed that these suicide bombers may target important installations in Islamabad and Rawalpindi or any other major city. They said that there is information of the presence of two heavy explosive laden vehicles besides Toyota Corolla driven by 'beautiful women'.
Meanwhile, the members of JIT have visited the Marriott blast site and collected evidence from the site that included ash and other material from various rooms on the third and fourth floors of the hotel and sent them to forensic lab for chemical examination. JIT officials were of the view that soon after the suicide bombers detonated the truck, only two rooms caught fire, which later engulfed the adjacent rooms and floors.