Three ‘target killers’ held in North Karachi raid

Weapons seized from suspects who belong to a political party’s militant wing

Karachi

The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) announced on Monday the arrest of three suspected target killers belonging to a political party who were involved in number of murders and other crimes in the city.

SSP Amir Farooq, head of the CTD’s Intelligence Wing, told a press conference the department headquarters that a team led by Khurram Waris, incharge of the Anti-Pakistan Based Terrorists Intelligence Group, made the arrests in a raid on a hideout in Sector 11-C2, North Karachi.

But the suspects, identified as Muddasir Ali Khan, Shafqat Ali and Mohammad Faiz Jilani, had opened fire before the law enforcers retaliated against the attack and caught them. However, another suspect, Asif Mehmood, managed to escape from the scene.

  A search of the hideout led to the discovery of a heavy machinegun, two light machineguns, three 7mm rifles, a sub machinegun and hundreds of bullets of different calibers packed in boxes.

Khurram Waris said the arrested men belonged to the militant wing of a political party and were involved in target killings, taking extortion money and arson attacks during strikes.

During the initial interrogation, the suspects confessed to killing three Baloch men near UP Morr, North Karachi, and shooting dead an ice cones seller near UP Morr. They were said to have also disclosed that during a strike in the city they targeted a minibus driver near Nagan Chowrangi.

They also admitted killing a man, named Saleem, during another strike in North Karachi Sector 7D3, besides making an attempt to murder a leader of a rival group in North Karachi’s Sector 5A-2.

In Khawaja Ajmer Nagri near Hameed School, they allegedly shot dead a leader of a political party.

The three were named in several FIRs registered at different police stations, mostly in District Central.

Waris said the interrogators learnt that the suspects were planning a major terrorist activity in the city and shifting weapons at the time of their arrests.