Rangers kill four Jundullah terrorists in Karachi shootout

KARACHI: The paramilitary Rangers successfully neutralised and killed four terrorists, including a woman, of a banned outfit in a shootout in the congested Urdu Bazaar area in the wee hours of Tuesday.

The terrorists were wanted by the police for a number of terrorism activities in Karachi. The spokesman for the Sindh Rangers said that a few days ago, they had raided the Ittehad Town, an area located on the outskirts of Karachi, where they had apprehended a terrorist of a banned outfit and shifted him to their headquarters for questioning.

On his pointation, said the spokesman, paramilitary soldiers raided a building situated in Street No 3, Urdu Bazaar, on Monday evening. Seeing the soldiers, the terrorists resorted to firing and also lobbed grenades, injuring four Rangers personnel -- Sepoy Salman, 30, son of Sarif Khan, Inamullah, 28, son of Hasamullah, Waheed, 25, son of Abdul Aziz, Asif, 40 son of Ghulam Ali.

Soon reinforcements arrived and the Rangers cordoned off the building from all sides. The terrorists, including a woman, hid themselves in a room. The gunbattle with the terrorists lasted for about seven hours and ended at 2:45am, during which the terrorists caused three explosions. The spokesman added that one terrorist tried to escape under the cover of fire but he was killed by soldiers in an exchange of fire, while three others blew themselves up, also leaving a child of about five years dead. The soldiers seized a huge quantity of weapons, ammunition and hand grenades from the flat.

During investigations, it was found that the terrorists belonged to the banned outfit Jundullah and were involved in a number of terrorism activities. The terrorists were identified as Zahid Afridi alias Faheem alias Hameed, Muhammad Hafeezullah Quettawal, Mama and woman facilitator Afshan.

They were involved in a number of terrorist activities, which included a remote controlled blast on Special Security Unit bus on March 15, 2015, which resulted in the martyrdom of two policemen and injuries to 15 people, a hand grenade attack and firing on the City Courts from where Jundullah terrorists escaped, and the killing of 15 to 20 people belonging to the Shia community in 2013. They were also involved in carrying out an attack on a Rangers mobile at Masjid Abu Huraira, in which four Rangers soldiers died. They also committed a robbery of Rs5.2 million at the Summit Bank situated in the Nazimabad area on November 30, 2011. The terrorists also committed a robbery of Rs5.6 million and killed two persons at the Muslim Commercial Bank’s Mauripur Branch on November 14, 2008. They were also involved in the kidnapping for ransom of ANP worker Ajab Khan in August 2014, who was released after paying Rs10.5 million. Moreover, they also planned digging up a tunnel to Karachi’s Central Jail and an attack in 2015.

Investigation sources said that the terrorists had rented the flat three months ago from the owner of the building. Further investigations are underway.