Mar 9, 2022: According to a report by AFP, a Da’ish suicide bomber who killed 64 people at an imambargah Peshawar last week was an Afghan exile who returned home to train for the attack, according to police.

Afghanistan could become a recruiting ground for militants since the Taliban came to power last year following the hasty withdrawal of U.S-led forces. The Taliban has vowed not to allow Afghan territory to be used to plan attacks on other nations, but last month the UN Security Council said “terrorist groups enjoy greater freedom there than at any time in recent history”.

The suicide bomber responsible for Friday’s Peshawar bombing was preparing for an attack from Afghanistan, two senior police officials told AFP. This was claimed by Daish, whose affiliation has been active for years in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The officials said that the attacker was an Afghan national in his 30s who moved to Pakistan with his family decades ago.

“The bomber went to Afghanistan, trained there and returned without informing his family,” one of the senior police officials told AFP.

“Islamic State-Khorasan is becoming a strong threat for us, they are operating from Afghanistan but they have sleeping cells here,” he added.