Pakistan's security agencies arrested 17 suspects in connection with the suicide blast in a high-security zone mosque in Peshawar that killed 101 people, including 97 policemen, as Army chief Gen Asim Munir vowed zero tolerance for terror groups and directed his generals to eliminate the threat of militancy.
A Taliban suicide bomber who was present in the front row during the Zuhr (afternoon) prayers on Monday blew himself up, causing the roof to collapse on the worshippers.
Sources said that the security agencies have arrested 17 suspects involved in the devastating blast - deadliest attack on the security personnel in decades in Pakistan.
The arrests have been made from close vicinity of the Police Lines area and the suspects were shifted to interrogation cell for investigation, sources told PTI on condition of anonymity.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), known as the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the suicide attack, saying it was part of a revenge attack for slain TTP commander Umar Khalid Khurasani who was killed in Afghanistan in August last.
The development comes as Pakistan's top generals vowed that perpetrators will be brought to exemplary justice.
General Munir, who presided over the 255th Corps Commanders' Conference held at general headquarters in Rawalpindi on Tuesday, said that the military was determined to eliminate the threat of militancy from the country.
The army chief referred to the Peshawar mosque attack and said that "such immoral and cowardly acts cannot shake the resolve of the nation rather reinvigorate our determination to succeed in ongoing war against terror with zero tolerance for any terrorist entity," according to a statement issued by the army.
