Two ‘most wanted TTP terrorists’ captured after chase of nine years

In a major development, the Sindh Rangers in collaboration with the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) on Thursday claimed to have arrested two most wanted terrorists during an intelligence-based operation in a neighbourhood of Orangi Town.

The suspected terrorists were wanted to the law enforcers since 2011 and had managed to evade capture during several raids and operations in the past. The two suspects are Mansoor Ahmed (aka Bilal, Ibrahim and Shaikh Bhai) and Fazal Ghani (aka Shafiq and Najeeb).

According to a Rangers spokesperson, their names were placed in the CTD’s Red Book and they were associated with the Ustad Aslam group of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

The suspects, according to the Rangers spokesperson, have admitted their involvement in various cases of terrorism. Sharing their alleged confessions, the spokesperson said Mansoor Ahmed was a trained militant who would frequently visit Waziristan and the neighbouring Afghanistan.

He said the suspect was a chief of his group’s Karachi wing and a close aide of militants of other proscribed outfits, including Jundullah’s chief Saqib alias Anjum and Tehreek-e-Taliban Swat’s Karachi chapter chief Salman alias Yasir.

The suspect has been involved in various cases of terrorism in Karachi, according to the spokesperson. The Sindh government had announced reward money of three million rupees for Mansoor’s arrest.

The other suspect, Fazal Ghani, is also affiliated with the Ustad Aslam group and a closed aide of Mansoor Ahmed, according to the Rangers spokesman. Fazal had also been involved in terrorist activities along with Mansoor, he added.

The suspect would hide in Balochistan and Afghanistan after carrying out terrorist activities in Karachi, he said, adding that reward money of two million rupees had been announced by the Sindh government for his arrest.

Both the suspects were also involved in holding policemen hostage to get an arrested suspect released who was under treatment at the Civil Hospital Karachi on May 15, 2011, he said.

Three of their accomplices, namely Nasir Dada, Anwar Hussain alias Dewana and Abdus Salam, were killed while other associates, namely Arshad alias Khalid and Shahzada alias Abid, were arrested when the Rangers in a joint operation with the CTD had conducted a raid on the information about the presence of the militants in Faqir Colony area of Orangi Town on May 25, 2015, in which the troops also found missiles, explosives, hand grenades and arms and ammunitions, he added.

The spokesperson said the Rangers had also conducted a raid at a house in Urdu Bazaar area on April 24, 2017 and during the exchange of fire, the arrested suspects’ accomplices, namely Naeem alias Mama, Abdul Hafeez alias Pehlwan, Zahid Afridi alias Hameed and Zahid Afridi’s wife and a daughter, were killed while other suspects had managed to escape the scene.

The arrested suspects were also involved in a bomb blast inside Imambargah in Orangi Town on November 21, 2012, he said. Also, their accomplices, namely Sher Bahadur and Jundullah group’s commander Saqib alias Anjum, were involved in a suicide blast at the Rangers headquarters in Nazimabad and a bomb blast at the Rangers check-post near Saima Tower in North Nazimabad on January 29, 2014, he said, adding that three Rangers troops and a policeman lost their lives while seven others were wounded in the attacks.

The spokesperson said that about a dozen workers of a political party were wounded in a hand grenade attack carried out by the suspects at the political party’ s camp in Orangi Town on November 21, 2014. On February 3, 2015 a Rangers mobile came under attack when a bomb concealed in a block by the suspects blasted near Habib Bank Chowrangi in SITE area; however, no loss of life was reported in the attack.

The suspects were also involved in killing two cops and wounded 15 others while attacking a police van carrying commandos of the Special Security Unit Razzaqabad Training Centre near National Highway on March 27, 2015, the spokesman said.

Apart from the terrorist activities and blasts, the suspects also abducted several people from different areas of Karachi, including Metrovil, Saeedabad and Mominabad, and released them after getting ransom money in 2014 and 2015, the spokesman said, adding that the group had also been involved in bank robberies in Korangi area. The Rangers spokesperson also claimed to have seized arms and ammunitions from their possession. The suspects were later handed over to the police for legal proceedings.