Big terrorist gang unearthed in Karachi

KARACHI: A Malala Yousufzai attacker, along with three other Daesh activists, was killed in an encounter near the Sadaf Society in Karachi on Monday. 

SSP Rao Anwar Ahmed said the police, acting on a tip off, raided the Dawood Bungalows in the area. “After the police encounter, four terrorists were killed, including commander Khalid who had attacked Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai on October 9, 2012 in Swat.” Malala was shot due to her outspoken narrative of Taliban atrocities and their ban on women education. Khalid also happened to be a cousin of notorious Mullah Fazlullah who then headed the Tehreek-i-Taliban Swat and is now the chief of TTP.

“Besides Malala, Khursheed was also involved in attacking army officials, and a bomb attack on the Quaidabad police,” the SSP claimed. According to SSP Rao Anwar, Khursheed’s brother Anwar Iqbal is the mastermind of the attack on Malala Yousufzai and is stated to have personally supervised the attack.

Meanwhile, a Karachi Police cop was martyred and another injured on Monday during a joint search by police and security agencies in the Kaneez Fatima Society of Gulzar-e-Hijri locality for arresting an alleged mastermind of murderous attack on Sindh Assembly’s Leader of the Opposition Khawaja Izharul Hassan on Saturday.

Malir Division’s SSP Rao Anwaar Ahmed told The News that a house-to-house search of Kaneez Fatima Society was conducted. The militants opened fire on the police due to which a Karachi Police cop Aijaz was martyred, while Khalid sustained injuries. “However, the mastermind, Abdul Kareem Sarosh Siddiqui, managed to escape in an injured condition,” the SSP said.

Rao further said the police raided Siddiqui’s house and recovered the copy of his Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC) and Karachi University’s student card. The police officer said Siddiqui is the commander of newly-emerged Jamaat Ansarul Sharia Pakistan. Siddiqui’s father Muhammad Sajjad Siddiqui has been taken into custody for interrogation, Rao said while adding one of Siddiqui’s close aides Hassan was killed in an encounter with the police after the attack on Khawaja Izharul Hassan.

The alleged attacker on Sindh MPA Kh Izhar, Abdul Kareem Sarosh Siddiqui, is a student of Applied Physics at the University of Karachi while his father is a professor at the university. The University’s Campus Security Officer, Muhammad Asif, confirmed that Sarosh Siddiqui studied at the campus during 2012-14.

Meanwhile, the forensic examination of empties and weapons recovered from Sarosh Siddiqui’s house could not be conducted due to technical snags with the Sindh Police’s newly-inducted Integrated Ballistics Identification System.

Sindh Home Minister Sohail Anwar Siyal expressed grief and anger over the martyrdom of Karachi Police cop. He directed Additonal Inspector General (AIG), Karachi, Mushtaq Meher, to submit a detailed investigation report immediately. The minister also ordered watertight security across the province and directed the Sindh Police to crack down against criminals.

Salis Bin Perwaiz adds: The investigation into Monday’s attack on the opposition leader Khwaja Izharul Hasan was shifted to the Counter Terrorism Department. According to officials, the killed terrorists belonged to Ansarul Sharia. One of them turned out to be a lab technician at a private university. An FIR of the incident was registered at the CTD Sindh Police Station on behalf of the State. The complainant in the FIR is Jamal Leghari, SHO of Taimuria Police Station, in whose jurisdiction the incident took place.

According to the FIR, “SHO Jamal Leghari was informed that after offering prayers MPA Khawaja Izharul Hassan was heading towards his residence along with police guards when three terrorists wearing police uniforms opened indiscriminate fire on the MPA due to which Police Constable (PC) Moinuddin, 35, and a passerby child Arsal Kamran were martyred, while ASI Zulfiqar, PC Shakeel, Kamran, Atif and Abdul Waris were injured.

“The police guards retaliated, injuring one of the terrorists who however along with accomplices escaped.

“The policemen and passersby shifted the injured to a hospital, while police chased the criminals. The officials engaged the fleeing terrorists in an encounter near Degree College and arrested one terrorist with bullet injury to head while his companions escaped. The police recovered a 9mm pistol and a motorcycle from the terrorist.

“The police have registered an FIR at the c under relevant sections of the Anti Terrorism Act and PPC. The case has been referred to CTD’s Transnational Terrorists Intelligence Group.”

A senior official of the CTD Sindh said according to initial investigations, the attack on MPA Izharul Hasan was planned by Ansarul Sharia Pakistan. He added the killed terrorist was identified as Hasaan Israr of the banned outfit. He worked as a lab technician at a private university.

Moreover, it was found out that the 9mm pistol recovered from the crime scene was also used in several attacks on the police officials. The pistol was used in killing a senior police official in Azizabad. The weapon was also used to kill four policemen in the SITE area during Ramazan.

Talking to The News, Addl IG Sanaullah Abbasi, chief of CTD Sindh, said the attack on MPA Khawaja Izharul Hassan was a conspiracy to reverse the gains achieved by the law enforcers but the police would foil the design.