The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of the Sindh police, in collaboration with the Sindh Rangers, claimed to have arrested a suspected terrorist during a raid in Karachi on Wednesday.
The arrested suspect has been identified as Iftikharul Ibad, aliases Pittan and Kamran. He was arrested during an intelligence-based raid at a residential apartment named Bab-e-Arif in the Nagan Chowrangi area. A pistol and a Kalashnikov were recovered from his possession.
According to the CTD spokesperson, the arrested suspect is a trained militant belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-London (MQM-L), a notorious terrorist and a member of a target killing team named Tariq Chamber.
On June 8, 1997, the suspect, along with his accomplices, had attacked an office of a rival political party at the RCD Ground in Malir’s Saudabad neighbourhood, leaving a member of the party named Saleem dead. The suspect and an accomplice were also wounded in the attack.
Sharing further details, the spokesperson said that on July 11, 1997, the suspect, along with his accomplices, had killed four people, including two sons of Shaheed SP Azizur Rehman of the Sindh police in the Al-Falah area as they had been returning home after attending the Friday prayers.
Besides the SP’s sons, namely sub-inspector Kashif Aziz posted at the Federal Investigation Agency and Rashid Aziz, two police constables, namely gunman Arshad Baig and driver Javed, were killed in the attack.
The suspect, along with his accomplices, had also killed police constable Rashidullah, driver of DSP Shahnaz Butt, in the Al-Falah area on July 11, 1997. After these major terror activities, the suspect had gone into hiding and had been serving as a junior clerk at the Karachi Water & Sewerage Board since 2018.
The suspect, along with his accomplices, had been involved in various cases of terrorism, while investigation is under way to verify his militancy training and find out the whereabouts of his accomplices.