The joint investigation team of Counter-Terrorism Department on Saturday claimed to have arrested two suspects for their involvement in the Peshawar suicide blast, Aaj News reported.

At least 57 people were killed and close to 200 injured, many critically, in an explosion that took place during Friday prayers at an imambargah plus mosque located in the historic Qissa Khawani bazaar of Peshawar.

The windows of the three-storey mosque were shattered due to the intensity of the blast, while the steel frame of the entrance was also damaged.

The investigating team has also found seven bullet shells from the site of the incident, adding that the assailant used a 9mm pistol. In addition to this, ball bearings were used in the suicide jacket. The police have readied the sketches of the assailant, who came to the blast site in a rickshaw, and two suspects. The team has also sent the body parts found from the site to the laboratory for examination.

The police and the CTD are jointly investigating the incident. They have taken the statement of the injured people.

The CCTV footage of the incident, which is available with Aaj News, showed assailants entering the site. The initial footage showed that the assailant had entered the mosque after opening fire at the people and then detonated himself.

The police have claimed to reach a “certain point of investigation” and the team was trying to look into more CCTV footage from other areas in order to ascertain the route of the rickshaw.

Furthermore, a case was registered at the CTD Police Station over the Peshawar suicide blast. CTD Police Station SHO Khan Razzaq is the complainant in the case. Sections of terrorism have been added to the FIR.

“The SHO heard the gunshots when the next street after checking the mosque security. After returning to the site, the SHO found the cops, who were on duty outside the mosque, were injured and the blast had occurred,” it read.

It added that the assailant detonated himself before opening fire at the people in the mosque.

Meanwhile, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry in a tweet said the biggest reason behind terrorism was extremism. “Extremism is used by the enemy as a weapon,” he said, adding that such incidents occur when mosque, school, and police do not play their due role.

He stressed the need for consensus among parliament and judiciary to bring measures to counter the scourge of terrorism.

Late on Friday night, AFP reported the militant Islamic State group had claimed the suicide bombing in Peshawar.

“Today ... an Islamic State fighter succeeded in assaulting a Shia mosque in Peshawar,” the group said on its Amaq propaganda site.

Even before the claim came to light, security officials were of the view that the attack bore the hallmarks of the Islamic State group’s Khorasan chapter.

Govt going after assailants with ‘full force’

Prime Minister Imran Khan on late Friday said that he was personally monitoring operations and coordinating with CTD and agencies in the wake of the terrorist attack on Peshawar Imambargah.

“We now have all info regarding origins of where the terrorists came from & are going after them with full force,” he said in a series of tweets.

The premier had already sought a report on the incident from the officials and called for immediate aid for the injured people in the incident.

Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid on Friday confirmed that the mosque blast was a suicide attack after the Peshawar CCPO had revealed that the pieces of the evidence showed that the attack appeared to be a suicide bombing. “We are in contact with the chief secretary and IG police and have sought a report from them. This [Peshawar blast] is an attempt to weaken the state and condemn the attack,” he said while talking to Aaj News.

Presiding over an emergency meeting, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan on Friday directed the officials to take measures for immediate tracing of the culprits and called for increasing the security of the prayers areas.

“We have to keep an eye out on the enemies and improve our weakness,” he said and directed the departments and institutions concerned to work out a plan for the future.