RAWALPINDI, Oct 24: An anti-terrorism court here on Friday remanded four men, allegedly connected with the suicide truck attack on Islamabad’s Marriott Hotel, in the custody of the Secretariat police for seven more days after investigators submitted that the accused were to be grilled for information about their network. ATC No. II Judge Sakhi Mohammad Kahot awarded seven days custody of the four accused – Dr Mohammad Usman and Tehseenullah Jan from Peshawar, Hameed Afzal from Toba Tek Singh and Rana Ilyas – after SHO Secretariat police sought their custody for 15 days.

The investigators in their submission in the court claimed that the accused were dangerous criminals having links with a banned terrorist outfit and they were to be interrogated about their accomplices.

They would also be questioned as to where and how they obtained such a huge quantity of explosives and who was behind the planning of the attack, the investigators said.

Police has so far confiscated a rented car hired from Peshawar by Tehseenullah who used the car to facilitate the suicide bomber and recovered a laptop computer with useful information about the activities of the terrorists.

The accused were brought in the court in an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) and their faces were covered with hoods, as tight security was maintained outside the court. The four accused were arrested by the police on October 16 on a tip-off given by an informer.

Fifty-five people, including diplomats, lost there lives and 266 were injured when a dumper truck laden with over 600kg explosives hit the front gate of Marriott on the evening of September 20, setting the whole building ablaze. The attack was described as the most devastating blast in the federal capital and “Pakistan’s 9/11”.

The Secretariat police registered a case under sections 302 (murder), 324 (attempted murder), 427 (mischief causing damage), 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house, etc.) and 109 (abetment) of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) 1860, section 7 (spreading terror) of the anti terrorist act (ATA) 1997 and section 3 and 4 of the explosive act, on September 20 against unknown persons.

Separately, the court issued show-cause notices to the Adiala Jail superintendent and the SHO New Town police, asking them to explain as to why six men allegedly involved in a suicide attack were not produced in the court where they were to be formally indicted on Friday.

The court directed the officials to produce the accused – Shafiqur Rehman (Mardan), Mohammad Mazharul Haq (Islamabad), Niaz Ahmed (Rawalpindi), Syed Abdul Majid, Syed Abdul Saboor and Syed Abdul Basit (all three residents of Lahore) – in the court on Saturday.

These men are suspected of involvement in the suicide attack on November 24 last year when a suspected bomber rammed his explosive-laden van into a bus packed with security personnel at the gate of an intelligence establishment’s compound, known as Hamza Camp (old Ojhri Camp), near Faizabad.

Seventeen people were killed in the attack. The accused were arrested by the New Town police in July from the area at the back the Rawalpindi Arts Council and they recovered three suicide vests and other explosives from their custody.