Three terrorists planning attacks on imambargahs arrested

Karachi
Three alleged terrorists who were planning to target two imambargahs in New Karachi and one in Gulshan-e-Maymar were arrested by officials of the Sindh Police’s Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) from their hideout near Nagan Chowrangi on Thursday.
CTD officials said in a statement that the terrorists had been planning to target Masjid Imambargah Kazmeen and Masjid Imambargah Jafferia in New Karachi and Imambargah Fatimat-ul-Zehra in Ahsanabad in Gulshan-e-Maymar.
They said the CTD was investigating the presence of militants to try to identify their networks when an informant gave a tip-off about the trio planning to carry out terrorist attacks during Muharram.
Subsequently, the CTD personnel arrived to raid the hideout situated near Nagan Chowrangi. However, when the terrorists saw them approaching they opened fire which was retaliated. After a shootout, the law enforcers arrested Qari Noorullah, Qari Israr and Mohammad Siddiq. When the police searched the hideout they found TT pistols and hand grenades.
According to the statement, the arrested suspects revealed during the initial interrogation that they were members of a banned terrorist group and were planning to target the three imambargahs.
The suspects had completed surveys of the locations and were planning to carry
out explosions using motorcycles or rickshaws after
fitting them with remote-controlled improvised-explosive devices.
The CTD officials said the group had also carried out bomb attacks on an imambargah in Orangi Town and Abbas Town, grenade attacks on a hotel on University Road and a Shia dry cleaner’s shop in Gulbahar, besides a gun attack on an imambargah sin Raees Amrohi Colony.
Moreover, they said, Siddiq was the financer and also the facilitator of the banned militant organisation.
Siddiq and his accomplices used to generate funds by carrying out bank robberies mostly in Central and East districts, besides robbing people who had withdrawn large sums of money from banks in these areas.
The suspects also confessed to having robbed more than 100 people in Central and East districts.
The officials said Siddiq was involved in a heist at a bank branch on Burnes Road from where Rs6.5 million had been robbed.
Siddiq and his accomplices also allegedly robbed a bank of Rs8.5 million in the Bahadurabad area.
A few months ago, Siddiq and his accomplices had almost been caught robbing a branch of Muslim Commercial Bank on Akber Road when a police mobile had arrived at the scene. But the robbers had fled.
The CTD officials said Siddiq used to give 50 percent of the generated funds to Qari Noorullah and Qari Israr so they could plan and carry out terrorist attacks in the city.
The CTD also identified five more facilitators, Shahid alias Chitta, Jawed Shaikh, Khalid Mastoi, Siddiq Chandio and Mehrab Machi, who used to provide the arrested men with shelter and transport.

‘Hitmen’ held
In a raid in the Korangi area, CTD personnel arrested a wanted target killer with two accomplices, affiliated with a political party.
The key suspect arrested was identified as Waseem alias Kala. His two associates were also caught and pistols found on them.
During the preliminary interrogation, Waseem confessed to the murder of a worker of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Amir, in Korangi No 6 and another worker of the Korangi sector near the Coast Guards headquarters in Korangi No 2½.