Two ‘LeJ terrorists’ confess to killing four Rangers soldiers

A judicial magistrate recorded the confessional statements of two suspected Lashkar-e-Jhangvi terrorists, Asim alias Kapri and Ishaq alias Bobby, who told him that they had killed paramilitary soldiers and Military Police personnel in Ittehad Town and Saddar.

The men, while recording their confessional statements under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code told the judicial magistrate (West) that they had killed four Rangers soldiers Ittehad Town. They also admitted they had gunned down two Military Police personnel near the Saddar Parking Plaza on July 19 this year.

Asim and Ishaq have already been identified by two witnesses as the murderers of the four Rangers soldiers at an identification parade held by the judicial magistrate.

The two men also face charges of killing qawwal Amjad Sabri in June.

Last month, the intelligence wing of the CTD, led by Transnational Terrorists Intelligence Group in-charge Raja Umer Khattab, had raided a hideout in Liaquatabad and facing resistance, arrested two men Asim and Ishaq.

A huge cache of weapons was seized while searching the hideout. The Sindh government had formed a joint interrogation team to interrogate the two Lashkar-e-Jhangvi terrorists believed to be involved in the killing of qawwal Amjad Sabri, army, police and Rangers personnel and other major attacks.

The joint interrogation team was headed by SSP Intelligence CTD Omar Shahid Hamid. Its other members included SSP Special Branch Sindh Younus Chandio, a representative of Pakistan Rangers Sindh, a representative of the ISI, a representative of MI, and a representative of the IB Sindh (equal to a rank of an SP).

During preliminary interrogation, the two men admitted to their involvement in 20 target killings over the past year, including the murder of five people at a majlis in Nazimabad No. 4 on October 29.

They also confessed to lobbing a grenade on a majlis in FC Area on October 17, killing an 11-year-old boy injuring a dozen other people.

The y further admitted that they had gunned down two Military Police personnel near the Saddar Parking Plaza on July 26, renowned qawwal Amjad Sabri on June 23, and two traffic police officers at Ayesha Manzil on May 21.

The LeJ terrorists are believed to be involved in the murder of seven policemen who were deployed to protect polio vaccinators in Orangi Town on April 20.

They had killed two Military Police personnel near Tibet Centre on December 1, 2015, four Rangers personnel in Ittehad Town on November 20, 2015, and Advocate Syed Ameer Haider of the Supreme Court at Hassan Square on August 29 last year.

They had murdered four policemen in Korangi G-Area, three policemen in Bangoria Goth, Azizabad, a policeman in Karimabad, two policemen near Minaar Chowk, Bahadurabad, and two policemen in Hyderi Market.

Besides, they had killed two Shia community members in Tori Bangash, Orangi Town, a man and his son of the Shia community in Raees Umrao Colony, Orangi Town, and two other members of the community in Nazimabad and Sabri Chowk.

CTD official Khattab said the arrested men were affiliated with the LeJ’s Naeem Bukhari group. After the arrest of their commander Naeem Bukhari, they met Saleh Rehmani, Bukhari’s cousin, who provided them with weapons and explosive material. After receiving the weapons, they went underground for some time and travelled to Wadh, Baluchistan, where a man named Maaz gave them shelter.

The two men disclosed that learning from the past they had turned their group into smaller ones comprising two individuals for terrorist activities.

Khattab said the two terrorists were planning to use new weapons in each killing to confuse the law enforcement agencies. They were also using poach-fitted weapons so that the law enforcers could not find spent bullet shells.

The official said the terrorists were holed up in a flat in a densely populated area of Liaquatabad and had informed the residents of the area that they were running a business of plastic bags. They had also rented a shop which they used for planning terrorist attacks.