Rangers, CTD claim killing two hardcore terrorists in joint operation

The Sindh Rangers, in collaboration with the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of the Sindh police, claimed on Wednesday to have killed two hardcore militants of an outlaw organisation in Karachi during an encounter.

The encounter took place on the night between Tuesday and Wednesday when the Rangers and CTD conducted a joint raid on the basis of intelligence information in Raees Yar Muhammad Goth in Baldia Town.

“Rangers intelligence and CTD received information about the presence of hardcore militants of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’s Ustad Aslam group in Baldia Town, upon which the Rangers’ Shaheen Group and CTD made a plan to arrest the suspects,” explained a spokesperson for the paramilitary force.

“When we were cordoning off the area, the terrorists became aware of our presence and started firing as they attempted to flee.” The spokesperson said the terrorists were told to surrender through an announcement made on megaphone but they continued to fire on the law enforcers. As the law enforcers returned fire, the two terrorists were killed.

They were later identified as Muhammad Rafiq, alias Adil, alias Habibullah, and Adnan Shabbir, alias Qari. Two sub-machine guns (SMGs), two 9mm pistols, ammunition and explosive material were also found on them.

The spokesperson claimed that the terrorists killed had recently arrived in Karachi from Afghanistan and were planning to carry out major terror activities in the city. He added that Rafiq was an expert in making improvised explosive devices and mines in Waziristan and he was also involved in various terrorist activities, including the bomb attack on a police van in the Quaidabad area on March 27, 2015, that claimed the lives of two policemen and wounded 15 others.

According to the spokesperson, Rafiq was also involved in the explosion of a bomb in a rickshaw in Baldia Town on October 12, 2014, in which four people were wounded.

He along with his companions was also involved in getting his arrested companions, namely Shakeeb, son of Mudasir, Murad Shah, son of Adam Shah, Wazir, son of Taus, and Murtaza, son of Enayat, free from the police custody during an attack at the City Courts in Karachi on June 19, 2010, that claimed the life of a policeman and injured another cop. Apart from such terror activities, Rafiq had also been allegedly involved in various sectarian-based terrorist activities in Karachi.

Regarding the other man killed in the encounter, the spokesman said Shabbir was a trained terrorist and a close aide to banned sectarian outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi’s hardcore militants, including Naeem Bukhari, Asim Capri, Farooq Bhatti, alias Taya, Sabir Munna, Ishaq Bobby, Shahjahan Burmi and Rafiq, alias Adil.

He was involved in the target killing of ASI Aqeel Ahmed and three constables, Jamil, Anwar and Akhtar, at the Hanif Nihari shop in the Korangi area in August 2015. He was also involved in the target killings of head constable Anwar Jafri and ASI Yousuf in Korangi in 2014 as well as various incidents of sectarian-based terrorist activities in the city.