Two ‘hitmen’ arrested

Karachi

Manghopir police claimed to have apprehended two alleged target killers during a search operation, the Online news agency adds.

Acting on a tip-off, the police conducted a raid during which the target killers started firing at the police party.  The police retaliated and rounded up two target killers, identified as Asif Ismail and Abid Ustad.

Accordion to police sources, the suspects are affiliated with the militant wing of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement. 

The suspects confessed to killing several persons, including members of the Ismaili and Bohri communities. The police also claimed to have recovered weapons and a motorcycle from their possession.

The suspects have been shifted to undisclosed locations for further investigations.

A targeted operation has been going in Karachi for the past three years.

The crackdown, being spearheaded by the paramilitary Rangers, has helped bring down the crime graph in the city by around 70 percent.

On Friday, the Sindh Rangers claimed to have arrested three suspected target killers “affiliated with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s London Secretariat” in a raid in District Central.

In a statement, the Rangers said a targeted raid was carried out in the Liaquatabad area and, after resistance, three ‘terrorists’ were arrested and shifted to their headquarters.

The men, identified as Rehan Ali alias Chikna, Zubair alias Achoo and Jawed – who “belong to MQM (London Secretariat) -- were said to be involved in a number of target killings in the city.