Terrorism threats looming in Karachi again

KARACHI: Threats of terrorism are still looming in the port city as what has been learnt that around one dozen hardcore terrorists released from jails are planning to carry out major terror activities in the city. Their primary goal is to target the senior anti-terror officer Raja Umar Khattab of the Counter-Terrorism Department of the Sindh police.

A group of terrorists released from jails in the recent past were planning to target the senior anti-terror officer of the Counter-Terrorism Department of the Sindh police.

Around one dozen terrorists belonging to the banned sectarian outfit – Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) have been released from different jails across Sindh including Central Jail, Karachi and Central Jail, Sukkur, in the recent past.

“Some three to four were released from Central Jail, Karachi while the rest were released from Central Jail, Sukkar,” confirmed senior counter-terrorism officer Raja Umar Khattab while talking to The News. “These terrorists belong to the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Naeem Bukhari group and were tasked to carry out the major terror activities, particularly targeting me”.

To a question, he said those released from the Central Jail, Karachi are under surveillance but those released from Sukkur Jail have gone into hiding as they were tasked by Qasim Rasheed, Asim Capri, Ishaq Bobby and others. “Most of the time, we are aware of their release after the suspects are released from Sukkur and they take advantage of this and go into hiding,” Khattab explained. “Usually, hiding means sometimes they go underground in Karachi as Karachi is the best place for them while sometimes they go to the tribal areas as well as Afghanistan”.

A hardcore terrorist of the LeJ – Waseem Barodi is among those who was recently released from Sukkur Jail while Qasim Rasheed is likely to be released soon. “Such threats are part of our lives as this would not be the first attack on me,” Raja Umar Khattab added. “I would defeat and arrest them again before they succeeded in their goals”.