PESHAWAR: The Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology has collected specimens from the bodies of 14 terrorists who were killed by security forces during the attack at Pakistan Air Force’s camp in Badaber on Friday.

An official told Dawn that specimens would be dispatched to the Punjab Forensic Science Agency in Lahore to determine their identity.

The bodies were handed over to Badaber police station on Saturday after post-mortem for burial.

The military spokesman had on Friday put the number of dead militants at 13, but on Saturday officials said that a charred body was later found in a generator room.

The official said forensic examination would help identify the militants and the charred body.

Meanwhile, the Counter-Terrorism Department registered an FIR against unknown persons on a complaint of Camp Commandant Flight Lieutenant Mohammad Hussain under different sections of the Pakistan Penal Code and the Anti-Terrorism Act.

According to the FIR, 28 people, including security personnel, were killed, and 27 suffered injuries in the attack, while 14 terrorists were gunned down by security forces.

Officials at the Badaber police station said the 14 terrorists would be buried at an undisclosed location.

Police and other security agencies conducted a search operation in Badaber and adjacent areas, detaining 28 suspects, including Afghans.

A three-member team of the Federal Investigation Agency, which arrived from Islamabad, continued investigation.

Sources said security forces had intercepted communications made during the assault between attackers and their masterminds.

The sources said two SIMs, which were in use of the attackers, had been recovered from the scene.

The investigators are confident that they would soon reach the masterminds and facilitators of the attack.

Reuters adds: Shafqat Malik, head of the Peshawar bomb squad, said the attackers carried enough firepower to occupy the base, but that some of their weapons had malfunctioned. Each man had an assault rifle, two improvised explosive devices, and several rocket propelled grenades, but some of the grenades misfired, he said.

“Their mission was occupation of the air base,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2015

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