Sipah-e-Sahaba man arrested for six target killings

A man associated with the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan was arrested by a Mominabad police team during a raid at an undisclosed location on Tuesday. He is accused of involvement in six target killings.

District West Senior Superintendent of Police Omar Shahid Hamid told a news conference that the law enforcers had arrested a Sipah-e-Sahaba target killer identified as Muhammad Kashif, alias Kallu, and confiscated the weapon found in his possession.

Hamid said the man was an active member of the proscribed group’s Sindhi Hotel Unit in New Karachi, adding that during interrogation the accused had confessed to carrying out terrorist activities reported in different police jurisdictions of the city in the recent past.

The officer said the target killer admitted that he and his accomplices had gunned down two workers of the Pakistan Sunni Tehreek and injured three others in 2009, adding that he confessed to murdering a Sunni Tehreek worker and injuring two others in another incident as well.

The accused told the police that he had also shot dead Sunni Tehreek worker Abdul Khalid, a young member of the Shia community and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-London worker Usman in 2011, 2013 and 2014 respectively, added Hamid.

He said the arrested man was also nominated in a case registered at the Sindh Counter Terrorism Department police station and was declared an absconder by a court. Sipah-e-Sahaba initially emerged as Anjuman Sipah-e-Sahaba. Later, it renamed itself as Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan. It was banned by the government in 2002, almost 17 years after its birth.

However, it re-emerged as Millat-e-Islamia Pakistan, which was also banned in 2003. Then it resurfaced as Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, which was banned in 2012. The group nevertheless continues to operate freely and hold public events.