TTP commander behind attacks in 2009, raising funds for LeJ arrested

Sindh’s Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) arrested a commander of the banned outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in City Railway Colony on Monday.

According to CTD Investigation Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Junaid Ahmed Sheikh, a team conducted a raid and arrested Rehmat Ali, an associate of the TTP who had been also involved in raising funds for the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) from Karachi since 2009.

Sheikh shared that Ali blew up a police check post at Kingargali in Buner District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in 2009 and managed to escape in a police van with possession of arms from the site of the blast. He said Ali, along with his companions, also attacked a Frontier Constabulary (FC) camp at Jaur in Buner in 2009 and took hold of the camp, which remained under his control for a month.

Sheikh mentioned that the occupation of the camp was ended because of an army operation in the area in the same year, but Ali and his companions fled. He added that the culprit kidnapped a person from the Jaur area of Bazaar Chowk for allegedly spying for the FC and alleged to have killed him.

Sheikh said the TTP commander had come to Karachi at the start of the military operation in 2009 and had been living in the city ever since. He added that Ali constantly changed his residence to avoid arrest and mentioned that he continued to raise funds for the LeJ group.