LAHORE -  Punjab’s counter-terror operatives have stepped up manhunt for a tall man who was “handling” the young bomber at Lahore’s The Mall on Monday evening. The death toll swelled to 14 yesterday as another victim died in the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital after battling for life for no less than 48 hours.

Police investigators and intelligence operatives were going through hundreds of video clips to identity the tall man clad in blue colour Shalwar Kamis and was ‘handling’ the young bomber. Police have desperately been searching for suspects in every nook and corner of the provincial metropolis since the bomber struck a group of officers at a protest rally on the leading artery.

Police have collected a large number of CCTV videos from multiple sources to examine two key suspects who could be seen walking together alongside the road.

One of the CCTV footages shows a tall man of white complexion leaving the crime scene minutes after the blast. The suspected handler, who was not wearing any jersey or pullover on that chilly evening, then passes through parked motorcycles in front of a shopping mall in a zigzag style and then disappears in a market.

Another video clip shows the same man was casually walking along with the bomber on the footpath. “One thing has been established so far that the handler left the crime scene soon after the blast. He could be seen directing and dictating the bomber as they walked together on the footpath,” a police source familiar with the development said.

The official while requesting anonymity said, “It is premature, at this point, to say that the handler was Pushtun looking man. “But, both the men appear to be strangers in town. Officers are working on different lines to unearth those who facilitated, masterminded, or carried out the assault,” he said.

Local news channels are repeatedly airing the footages of suspected bombers. The counter terrorism department yesterday appealed to the public to immediately contact the officers on helpline number (0800-11111) if they knew anything about the bomber and his handler.

“Any information about handler or suicide bomber circulating on TVs may be given on the (CTD) number. The name and identity (of the informer) will not be disclosed or asked.” A good number of CCTV cameras are installed by traders and shopkeepers on both sides of The Mall in addiction to many security cameras fixed by Chinese experts in Lahore as part of the safe city project.

A senior official last night told The Nation that there was no breakthrough in the deadly bombing so far.

“There is no major development yet. Many CCTV footages (in which the bomber and his facilitator could be seen walking on The Mall’s footpath minutes before the blast) are being examined thoroughly,” the officer said. “Over 150 suspects are detained during a massive police crackdown. But at this stage, no important suspect is among those arrested.”

A high-powered joint investigation team is investigating the brutal assault to unearth the merciless terrorists, an official in the provincial home department said. “A province-wide crackdown is also underway to hunt down terror suspects and their facilitators.”

The identification and arrest of the handler will help investigators smash the terror network, another official said. He said that the police had intensified snap-checking at the entry and exit points of big cities to nab the handler who was on the loose till late Wednesday night.

Some experts were not hopeful that the DNA sample or fingerprints will definitely help investigators identity the suspects. “The identification will be ascertained only if their record matches with the national database. If the terrorists appear to be foreigners then the chances (of identification) are slim,” a security expert said by phone yesterday.

On the other hand, experts were examining the fingerprints of suspected bomber to confirm his identity. The tests of DNA samples of the bomber were also underway at the Punjab forensic science agency.

Over 100 persons were wounded in the blast, claimed by three different terror groups including Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, an offshoot of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. “It was a joint activity of the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, TTP, and Intikam-e-Waziristan groups,” a spokesman for the terror outfit said while asserting responsibility for the terror strike in Lahore. He also identified the suicide bomber as Nasar Ullah alias Zabeeh Ullah.

Reportedly, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar released a video announcing the launch of “Operation Ghazi” in connection with Moulvi Ghazi Abdul Rashid who was killed in July 2007 by Pakistan Army in Laal Masjid operation in Islamabad.

The same terror outfit had claimed responsibility for the bombing in Lahore’s Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park that killed 75 people on Easter Sunday on March 27, 2016. The terror group later named the bomber as Salah Uddin Khorasani.

Early last month, Punjab’s CTD arrested two key suspects in connection with the last year’s attack in Lahore’s Gulshan Park. A spokesperson for the CTD stated that “Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan/Jamaat-ul-Ahrar” carried out the attack. “TTP (Jamaat-ul-Ahrar) chief Umar Khalid Khorasani had ordered the attack. Muhammad Khan (a local man) had coordinated and masterminded the hit.”

Following the months-long investigations, the arrested suspects were named by CTD officials as Shahid Ullah and Khan Zaib. According to the findings, Shaukat and Tawakkal Jan had provided suicide jacket to the bomber, Nasir, who reached Lahore a few days before the attack. Nasir stayed at the house of Hukam Khan in Lahore for two days. The members of this terrorist cell were living in a rented house in Barkat Town, Shahdara and originally they belonged to Mohmand Agency, Fata.

ASHRAF JAVED