Four Al Qaeda militants killed in encounter

Karachi
Four suspected members of Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent were gunned down in an alleged encounter with the Karachi police in Qayyumabad on Friday. Bombs and a suicide jacket were found with the suspects.
The Crime Investigation Department (CID) police had tracked the suspects as they were planning an attack. A raid was launched in Qayyumabad Sector-D, where the suspects opened fire at the law enforcement personnel. In the ensuing encounter, four militants were injured and arrested while their accomplices fled.
The injured men were taken to the Jinnah hospital, where they were pronounced dead.
A suicide jacket containing extra explosives attached with around 12 homemade bombs was seized from the hideout. Three Russian-made grenades, a submachine gun and three pistols were also found at the place.
Raja Umer Khattab, the head of the CID’s Counter-Terrorism Wing, said the terrorists were identified as Sajjad alias Kargil, the al Qaeda commander in Karachi, and his three associates Mohammed Hashim, Yasir alias Yasir Arafat and Shamim alias Commando.
The militants, he said, were planning a suicide attack on a senior intelligence officer when they were tracked.
Sajjad, a Bengali national, after joining Al Qaeda had come to Karachi in 2009 and managed to get his identity card made from Nadra through an agent. After obtaining his CNIC, he left for Waziristan for training.
In 2014, he pledged allegiance with the newly formed Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent’s chief Asim Umer, who appointed him the outfit’s Karachi commander.
The man was an expert in making suicide jackets and improvised explosive devices.
Khattab added the suspects were involved in murders of law enforcers and were mostly active in the Central District, and Landhi and Korangi areas.
They had killed seven policemen during the Eid days last year.
The men did not use cellphones for contacting each other and used to speak in code language on landline numbers.
In their conversations, a hotel actually meant a mosque and the railway station meant a bus stand.
In September, Al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahri had announced the formation of an Indian branch of his militant group “to spread Islamic rule and raise the flag of jihad across the subcontinent”. He had described the formation of “Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent” as glad tidings for Muslims in Burma, Bangladesh, Assam, Gujurat, Ahmedabad, and Kashmir” and said the new wing would “rescue Muslims there from injustice and oppression.

Gangster killed
A suspect was killed and four policemen were injured during a shoot-out with gangsters in Lyari.
Police had tracked some members of the Baba Ladla group in the Baghdadi area.
A raid was conducted near Ali Hotel in Shah Baig Lane. When the law enforcers arrived there, the suspects opened fire, leaving four commandos of the Rapid Response Force injured.
The injured cops were taken to the Civil hospital. They were identified as constables Abu Bakr 30, Qurban, 35, Jehangir, 25, and Abdul Hameed, 32.
The police called in extra contingents to take on the gangsters. A heavy gun battle took place in Jhat Phat Market in Kalakot, during which a gangster was killed while his accomplices fled.
The man was shifted to the Civil hospital, where he died. He was identified as Ramazan alias Umair. A pistol and some rounds were found with him.

Rangers raids
Rangers rounded up 29 suspected terrorists, extortionists and target killers and seized a huge cache of weapons in raids across the province.
A Rangers spokesman said the paramilitary force conducted a raid on the hideouts of banned outfit members in Bismillah Market and the New Sabzi Mandi areas and detained 12 suspects, including six terrorists of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Kalashnikovs, repeaters, pistols, one .223 rifle and ammunition were seized in the operations.
The Rangers later conducted a raid in the Sultanabad graveyard and found a cache of weapons, including submachine guns and MP-5s. The weapons were snatched by the terrorists after killing four constables in Raees Mianwali Centre on June 24, 2014.
Another 17 criminals were arrested in raids in Landhi, Steel Town, Sohrab Goth and Mehran Town
Rangers also rescued a kidnapped man, Ghulam Rasool Bhutto, in an intelligence driven targeted raid in Jagan, Shikarpur. The man from Rohri was kidnapped in Hyderabad six months ago and a ransom of Rs20 million was demanded.