Five ‘al Qaeda terrorists’ shot dead in Orangi

Karachi
Five suspected al Qaeda terrorists were gunned down by police in an early morning raid in Khairabad, Orangi Town on Monday.
The provincial counter-terrorism department said the five men were members of al Qaeda Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and included their commander and two would-be suicide bombers.
Their hideout was a bomb-making facility. A large amount of explosive material, two suicide jackets, an improvised explosive device planted on a motorcycle, four pressure cooker bombs, laptops and weapons were found there.
Speaking at a press conference, CTD DIG Arif Hanif said the department’s anti-terror wing in-charge Raja Umer Khattab was tipped off about the presence of AQIS terrorists in Khairabad, Orangi Town. These terrorists were involved in several attacks on the law enforcement agencies including a suicide blast at a Rangers van on Sharea Noor Jehan on March 20.
Khattab and his team raided their hideout and in the ensuing shootout, five terrorists were wounded. They later died at a hospital
Three of them were identified as AQIS commander in Karachi Noorul Hassan alias Hashim alias Bhai Jan alias Babu Bhai, deputy commander Usman alias Irfan alias Abdullah and Ibrahim alias Rafiq alias Owais. The other two were would-be suicide bombers.
Speaking at the press conference, Khattab said the hideout was a bomb-making facility where over 10 kilogrammes of explosive material, several weapons including sub-machine guns, bombs concealed in concrete blocks, detonators, chemicals, three suicide jackets, laptops, formulas for making improvised explosive devices, hate literature, pressure cooker bombs, handmade bombs, grenades and other material were found.
“On their laptops, we found videos of suicide bombers recorded before they carried out attacks on the law enforcement agencies,” the official said.
“They include a bomber who blew up himself near a Rangers van in North Nazimabad.”
Khattab said AQIS commander Noorul Hassan was an expert in preparing improvised explosive devices. Before joining AQIS, he had been affiliated with different banned outfits since 1999.
The official said these terrorists had planted a bomb near Qalandaria Chowk in North Karachi on January 1, but it had failed to detonate and later defused by police. They had also attacked paramilitary soldiers near the DC West office on February 3.
On August 30, last year, they had attacked an armoured personnel carrier on Sharea Noor Jehan.
Khattab said the five terrorists had murdered many policemen in East and West ranges. They were involved in a grenade attack at a Korangi police van in Korangi No 2 ½. They had also attacked a police van in Korangi No 4. In 2013, they had attacked police vans in Ibrahim Hyderi and Bilal Colony.
The terrorists had killed activists of a political party including Khursheed Pathan, Siraj Bihari, Alam Matchar and Syed Zakir Shah. They had also targeted a police official, Razzaq, in West district.
Khattab said a list of people including politicians and law enforcement agencies officials who the terrorists were planning to target was found at the hideout.
Besides, a video was found showing how a motorcycle-borne improvised explosive device was prepared and used to attack Rangers soldiers on Sharea Noor Jehan.
It also contained the interview of the suicide bomber used in the attack, identified as Arif alias Wajah, a resident of Bilal Colony, Korangi and a student of a well-known seminary in the city.
Khattab said al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri had formed al Qaeda Indian Subcontinent and appointed Asim Omer as its chief. Before joining al Qaeda, Omer was a Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan commander.
It took two years to form AQIS and now several banned outfits in Pakistan are working under its umbrella.
Presently, AQIS is also using the terrorists of Harkatul Mujahideen Al-Almi.
These terrorists were earlier arrested and now out on bail. AQIS was involved in a botched attack on the Karachi dockyard. Following the military operation in Waziristan,
AQIS has shifted its headquarters to Helmand in Afghanistan. It has also firmed its roots in Chaman and Quetta in Balochistan and Shikarpur in Sindh.
Provincial police chief Ghulam Haider Jamali and Rangers director general Bilal Akbar have announced a reward of Rs500,000 and Rs600,000 respectively for the police team that conducted the raid.