Two Military Police personnel shot dead in Karachi terror attack

KARACHI: In the first-ever terrorist attack on the military since the launch of the Karachi targeted operation, two Pakistan Army soldiers were martyred in an ambush here on Tuesday afternoon.
Lance Naik Arshad and Hawaldar Rashid of the Military Police (MP) were sitting in their jeep opposite the Gul Plaza on the busy M A Jinnah Road when two attackers riding a motorcycle fired gunshots at them from behind and escaped.
The injured soldiers were rushed to the Civil Hospital where they succumbed to their wounds, DIG South Range Jamil Ahmed told The News. The slain soldiers were posted to the Cantt Unit of the Military Police in Saddar.
Earlier, four personnel of the Sindh Rangers were martyred in Baldia Town on November 20. Seventy-nine policemen, eight Rangers and two army soldiers have died with their boots on in Karachi since the launch of the operation, which has seen a significant drop in heinous crimes, including bomb blasts, target killings and kidnappings for ransom.
Chief of the Army Staff General Raheel Sharif paid rich tributes to the valour and sacrifice of the two MP personnel who embraced martyrdom in the terrorist attack, said DG ISPR Asim Bajwa in a statement.
The COAS said terrorist acts aimed at undermining the progress of Operation Zarb-e-Azb “cannot shake our national resolve to root out terrorism from our soil once and for all”.The army chief instructed the intelligence and security agencies “to go to any length to apprehend the perpetrators”.
DIG Jamil Ahmed said the soldiers Rashid and Arshad visited the area for some work in an official vehicle when unidentified terrorists attacked them from behind.He said the MP personnel suffered fatal wounds to their heads. The police seized four spent bullet casings from inside the vehicle and a single bullet casing lying outside. A 9mm pistol was used in the crime.
The casings were sent to the forensic division of the Sindh Police. Initial examination of the bullet casings at the Sindh Police forensic division showed that a similar weapon had beenused in an attack on four Rangers personnel in Baldia Town.
DIG Ahmed said terrorists of some banned organisation, including the Al-Qaeda Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), might have carried out the cowardly attack. He said investigators were looking into every aspect of the incident to establish as to exactly which group was behind the killings.
He said an FIR was lodged with the Preedy Police Station on the complaint of a Military Police official. The FIR includes Section 7 of Anti-Terrorism Act.
After the incident, law enforcement agencies personnel, IGP Sindh Ghulam Hyder Jamali and DIG Jamil Ahmed reached the spot.
Talking to The News, Raja Umer Khattab, in charge Transnational Intelligence Group of Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), Sindh, said the Tuesday’s attack was the third of its kind, as earlier two similar attacks were carried out at the same place by the members of a banned outfit.
The first attack was carried out on a Preedy police mobile in which terrorists lobbed a chemical bomb, killing three cops. A few months later, three policemen were killed at the same place.
Khattab said it seemed terrorists reconnoitered the place which law-enforcers usually visited for repair of vehicles. This time, he said, terrorists got a soft target and killed the two MP soldiers.
Earlier, he said, they had arrested terrorists of the banned AQIS who were involved in the Safoora bus attack and had confessed to targeting the police in Preedy area.
“It seems the remaining associates of the arrested terrorists are behind the attack on the MP soldiers,” he said.
Khattab further said forensic examination of the weapon used in the attack confirmed that it was the same that had been used earlier in nine terrorist attacks, including the recent attack on the Rangers personnel in Baldia Town.
He said the modus operandi of two terrorists who killed the military policemen was similar to what the terrorists arrested in Safoora bus attack had disclosed, as they were well-trained and shot directly at the heads of the soldiers.
Khattab said the group involved in the attacks on the police officials had been active between November 2014 and January 2015 and afterwards they hid in their sleeper cells for 10 months.
He said it appeared that the group had become active again to carry out attacks on law enforcers.
Earlier, the same group targeted Head Constable (HC) Ameer Khan in Mominabad on November 26, 2014 and killed Dr Ziauddin in Peerabad the following day, he said.
On December 10, 2014 terrorists attacked PC Mohammed Iqbal in Madina Colony, PC Rashid in Mominabad, he said, adding that later on January 1, 2015 they targeted Dr Ehsan Ali in Peerabad and the same day they shot dead Atif in Orangi Town.
They also targeted Dr Murad in Mominabad and killed two activists of the Awami National Party in the same area between 2014 and January 2015.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah has announced Rs2 million each as compensation for the families of martyred Military Police officials.
President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif expressed profound grief and sorrow over the martyrdom of Military Police officials.
Both leaders said despite such cowardly attacks, the operation against terrorism will continue till elimination of the last terrorist.
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Tuesday telephoned Corps Commander Karachi Lt. Gen. Naveed Mukhtar and condoled the killing of two Military Police personnel by unidentified terrorists in an ambush on Tuesday evening. Bilawal said his party stood by the soldiers fighting terrorists on the frontline. “The entire nation appreciates the sacrifices being offered by the nation’s fighting machine during the operation against terrorism.”
He said peace was returning to Karachi but terrorists had targeted the law enforcing agencies in the city to hinder peace and to impose their political agenda.
He told General Naveed Mukhtar that terrorism was the worst enemy of the country and their complete elimination in Pakistan was a united mission of the nation. “Anyone who is a friend of terrorists is our enemy and anyone who is an enemy of Pakistan is our enemy,” Bilawal added.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah also telephoned Gen Naveed Mukhtar and condoled with him over the death of two Military Police personnel.
He said the provincial government’s agencies concerned would do their best to investigate and resolve the case. “Such attacks on the life of security agencies personnel would not dampen our resolve and commitment to eliminate terrorism in the country.”
Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan also telephoned corps commander Karachi and DG Sindh Rangers for condoling the death of two MI personnel.
The governor said the military and security personnel embracing martyrdom would surely enhance the resolve and commitment of the government and of its law enforcement agencies to curb terrorism and lawlessness from the country.