KARACHI: Police on Saturday booked Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan chief Fazlullah and his close aide Shahidullah Shahid for the suicide attack on SP CID Mohammad Aslam Khan and his colleagues as the Rangers launched a `massive operation` in the attacker`s residential locality and claimed success, officials and sources said.

An investigation team traced the residence of the suspected attacker and picked up at least two family members of the suspected suicide bomber for questioning thoughpolice ruled out any arrest in this connection.

`They [two family members] have only been called for an interview,` said a senior official wishing not to be named. `A few crucial facts emerged during the course of the interview. It`s not an arrest, neither can it be called detention.They were questioned to seek further clarity in the investigation process.

The PIB Colony police station registered an FIR (07/2014) under Sections 302 (premeditated murder) 324 (attempted murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code against unidentified suspects,` said a PIB police official citing details of the FIR.

`Sections ¾ of the Explosive Act and 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act have also been incorporated in the FIR. The TTP chief Fazlullah and spokesman Shahidullah Shahid have been nominated as prime suspects with several other unknown persons on a complaint of CID Inspector Adil Khan.On Friday, the police authorities investigating the Thursday bomb attack on the CID SP, better known Chaudary Aslam, and his two guards concluded that a suicide bomber had rammed his explosivesladen pick-up truck into the slain police officer`s bulletproof SUV when his motorcade was passing through the Lyari Expressway.

Before arriving at the conclusion, the police were probing it as a remote-controlled roadside bomb targeting the SP CID vehicle and his security convoy, but the investigators found human remains at the scene of crime and a hospital examination showed that they belonged to a person who remained unidentified.

Hours after the identification of the attacker as 36-year-old TTP member Naeemullah, the police decided to register the FIR against the chief of the banned outfit. The investigation team being led by DIG-CID Zafar Bukhari said they had enough evidence to believe that Fazalullah and his close aide Shahidullah Shahid were behind the suicide attack. `Almost a month ago, SP Aslam had received a call over his cellphone from Shahidullah Shahid, which turned into a heated argument from both sides,` disclosed SSP CID Niaz Ahmed Khoso, part of the investigation team set up by the Sindh police chief. `In that conversation, Shahidullah Shahid had directly threatened him with a fatal attack on hislife.` Then following the Jan 9 attack, the TTP claimed the responsibility that also helped investigators to spot them as major suspects, he said.

Lyari Expressway reopened He said the part of the Lyari Expressway that had been cordoned off was now reopened for traffic. But police remained present there to collect pieces of evidence, as the exercise might continue for the next couple of days, he added.

The statements of the CID officials, who accompaniedSP Aslam at the time of the attack, were recorded in the first phase, he added.

A statement issued by the Sindh police claimed to have recovered more evidence from the crime scene as radius of search by the investigators had been extended up to three kilometers.

`The police have found many parts of the suspected Suzuki pick-up [truck] used in blast and more remains of the suicide member,` said the statement. `The radius of search has been extended to two to three kilometres.

People are requested to hand over to the police any part ofa vehicle near blast site. They may call at 021-99231399.

Meanwhile, the Rangers with some 400 soldiers launched an `intelligence-driven targeted search and cordon operation in Pirabad` the locality where the suspected attacker Naeemullah lived.

`During the search operation, 11 criminals and members of defunct organisation have been arrested,` said the Pakistan Rangers, Sindh, statement. `The operation was launched on the intelligence about the presence of terrorists in the area which also led to the recovery of arms and ammunition.