What happened
Islamabad’s Inspector General of Police, Ali Nasir Rizvi, said on 5 July 2026 that the suspect in the fatal shooting of a Pakistan Air Force officer had been arrested within nine hours of the attack, Dawn reported. The officer was identified as PAF Group Captain Asim Tariq.
Speaking at a press conference in Islamabad, the IG said the suspect, named as Saad Abbasi, was traced and apprehended after a large search. He said the group captain was travelling towards Rawalpindi on an official assignment when he saw a man forcefully pulling a woman, named as Nimrah, towards a motorcycle on 9th Avenue.
How the shooting unfolded
According to the police account, Group Captain Tariq took a U-turn, parked next to the suspect’s motorcycle, introduced himself and told the man to stay away from the woman. The IG said the suspect moved his motorcycle forward, then returned and stopped beside the car.
“He fired with the pistol he had, which hit the group captain and resulted in his martyrdom on the spot,” Rizvi said. The woman had by then moved to the passenger side of the vehicle, and the suspect fled the scene, he added.
Rizvi said the woman and the suspect both worked at a cash and carry outlet in G-6, where she represented a cosmetics company and he represented a frozen-food brand.
The search and arrest
The police chief described tracing the suspect as a “huge challenge” because the woman did not know his residential address. He said 11 teams were formed, including digital surveillance and Safe City camera units, and that investigators reviewed 275 Safe City cameras, a number of private cameras and 137 call detail records.
Rizvi said the suspect changed his shirt, switched off his phone and tried to leave by bus. He said the suspect hailed from Abbottabad and had previously been involved in a similar incident involving a woman in Mianwali, where the families had settled the matter mutually instead of approaching police. According to the IG, 13 raids were carried out in Islamabad and teams were sent to Lahore, Dera Ismail Khan and other areas, involving more than 100 officers. He said Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi supervised the operation and that all legal action would be taken.
Why it matters
The killing of a serving air force officer on a main Islamabad road drew attention to street-level crime in the capital and to the speed of the police response. The case also highlighted the role of Safe City camera networks and mobile-phone records in tracing suspects, tools the Islamabad police cited as central to the arrest.
What is still uncertain
The account rests on the police briefing and the suspect has not been tried. The exact charges and the outcome of any prosecution were not stated at the time of the briefing. The woman’s and suspect’s accounts have not been independently reported.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a summary of published reporting, not independent reporting. Details are as carried by the cited source, which was reviewed on 2026-07-05.
- Dawn — "Suspect who shot PAF officer dead arrested within 9 hours: Islamabad IG"5 July 2026 · The Islamabad police account of the shooting, the search and the suspect's arrest.
