Four militant groups behind two lethal suicide attacks in Quetta

Islamabad

Close coordination among four militant organisations helped terrorists execute two back-to-back lethal suicide attacks in Quetta which otherwise could have been averted by the law-enforcement agencies. 

Over a dozen terrorists, who were allegedly trained by the Islamic State (Daish) in Kot, a district in Nangarhar province of Afghanistan, slipped into Pakistan some five months ago, security officials probing factors leading to recent terror attacks in Balochistan confided to Geo News Wednesday. 

Local IS’s commanders Bakhtyar and Abdul Khaliq had trained these terrorists who are believed to be Uzbek, Afghan and Tajik nationals, they further revealed seeking anonymity as they are not allowed to talk to media. 

“Two of the Quetta gunmen (suicide bombers) were Tajik nationals and one gunman was Afghan….and they are the ones in the photograph released by the IS,” said an investigator, who was familiar with the latest development. But he made it clear that security operators were also suspecting inside support for these terrorist organisations. “They (militants) were trained by a Syrian national in Afghanistan named Abu Durjana, an IS recruiter in Afghanistan,” he said. 

They entered through Khyber and Kurram Agency and joined local commanders of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi al-Almi and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar in Balochistan and some of them also went to Karachi, he further revealed. 

“Their handlers in Quetta are from LeJ, LeJ al-Almi and TTP — so in short it seems to be joint attacks in Quetta by IS, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and LeJ al-Almi,” he added. 

They have trained more than four dozen militants having affiliation with these organisations in Panjgur, Pishin, Killi Hassani of Mastung and Quetta. Ziaullah alias Nawaz, a commander of LeJ al-Almi was involved in recruiting the militants, he further revealed. Earlier, a communiqué made available with Geo News also revealed presence of IS recruiters in Pakistan, who belong to India, Syria and Canada. 

It was also revealed that five Syrian nationals, a dual national (Canadian/Syrian) and an Indian national had recently entered Pakistan using fake documents through Afghanistan or Iran border. They were Fares Aruri, Otari al-Najadi and his wife (Saba Fakhri) and Shakoori Mustafa and his wife (Farida Shakoori), Anka Asmahaan and an Indian national Saeedul Aslam, who were working for Daesh in Pakistan. 

After two and half months, a group of commanders of these proscribed organisations, including Ahmed Khan, a kingpin of LeJ, planned to target Ismaili and Bohra communities in Karachi and law-enforcement agencies and Hazara community in Balochistan, investigators further added. 

Then they successfully sent a suicide bomber who targeted the emergency services ward at Quetta’s Civil Hospital who killed around 71 innocent people, they said. During investigation, intelligence agencies arrested 11 foreigners, mostly Afghans in this case, they added. And then terrorists targeted over 61 recruits at Police Training Centre Quetta. 

Informed officials in Quetta also claimed that the security forces could have averted recent suicide attacks in Punjab if the government had shown its willingness to implement the recommendations made by the apex committee of the province overseeing the National Action Plan in true spirit. Some 6,428 terrorists were roaming in the province; officials informed an apex committee meeting chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif held at Quetta earlier this year. “This committee recommended crackdown on LeJ, TTP and others,” an official revealed. Around 600 dangerous commanders had affiliation with of Daish, LeJ, Balochistan Liberation Front, TTP, Baloch Liberation Army, Baloch Republican Army, etc and dozens of them are Uzbeks, Tajiks, Afghans and some of them were believed to be operatives of National Directorate of Security identified by the Intelligence Fusion Cell for action, he added. 

The Special Branch Balochistan also identified 53 madrassas which according to intelligence agencies were fuelling terrorism in the province. “Apex Committee under premier in Quetta recommended all intelligence agencies to scrutinise, shortlist and actionable intelligence be generated to initiate action,” revealed official documents. 

Balochistan government officials and interior ministry did not comment on the development as saying, the investigation is still going on. “It’s premature to comment on latest investigation,” said a senior official of Balochistan government.