Rangers claim arresting three TTP and Daesh terrorists

Personnel of the Sindh Rangers on Saturday claimed to have arrested three members of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Daesh in the outskirts of Karachi.

A spokesman for the paramilitary force said their soldiers conducted an intelligence-based raid in Ittehad Town, Balida Town, and after resistance, apprehended three terrorists who were identified as Noor Muhammad, alias Abu Dardaah, Hayatullah and Khan Bahadur.

The arrested accused were said to be associated with the banned TTP and Daesh.

They were shifted to the Rangers headquarters for interrogation. The paramilitary force also claimed to have recovered weapons and explosive material from the suspects’ possession.

During the investigations, it was found that the banned TTP and Daesh were planning to carry out terrorist activities in Pakistan, especially Karachi.

The Rangers said the law enforcement and intelligence agencies had expanded their network and made arrests of the terrorists.

The arrested terrorists had recently reached Karachi from Afghanistan.

According to the investigations, the arrested terrorists joined TTP’s Maulvi Faqeer Muhammad group in 2008, and in 2014 they joined Daesh and carried out several terror activities.

They were allegedly behind terrorist activities in Kharkay Bagh, Bajour Agency and Inayat Qila Bazaar, in which several personnel of the Pakistan Army and Frontier Constabulary were martyred and injured.

In 2012, the terrorists in Chughaam area made a terrorist attack on the army and FC troops, in which several soldiers were martyred and injured. Moreover, the accused had also carried out bomb blasts in Bajour Agency, in which several people were killed and injured.

The arrested suspects along with the recovered weapons and explosive material were handed over to police for the initiation of legal proceedings.

Earlier on Thursday, Sindh’s Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) chief Omar Shahid Hamid and a Sindh Rangers colonel disclosed that on the instructions of MQM-London chief Altaf Hussain, new target killing teams had been formed to create a law and order situation in Karachi. DIG Omar Shahid Hamid told the media briefing at his office that they had been reviewing interrogation reports and cases related to terrorism, as well as intelligence reports, and they learnt that the on orders from Altaf Hussain, new target killing teams had been formed and they were under direct control of a female worker, Kehkashan Haider.

He said the woman had already delivered instructions to target killers, and law enforcers had developed a list of people whom the hitmen had planned to target. The law enforcers had started providing security to people who were on the target list of the hitmen, he said.

The DIG said that during the year 2017 the Sindh Rangers had arrested three target killers of the MQM- London who were involved in a number of target killings, including the murder of Rashid Mamu, chairman of UC-13, Rafay-e-Aam Society. The three had recorded their statements under Section 164 before a judicial magistrate and disclosed that they were committing target killings on the instructions of Kehkahshan Haider, a member of the MQM Rabitta Committee London, and that she had been operating the network from the United States of America.

They further disclosed that Kehkashan used to send money via Hawala Hundi and it was received by Asif Raees. Kehkashan send $1,470 on the CNIC of Huma, wife of their accomplice, Chand, through Western Union’s Nagan Chowrangi Branch. Moreover, the accused disclosed that instructions to kill Rashid Mamu was also given to them by Kehkashan through a WhatsApp call.