KARACHI: Seven suspected militants were gunned down in what police described as an encounter in Quaidabad on Friday, when a policeman was killed and two others were wounded in attacks elsewhere.

Officials claimed they received information that some militants had arrived in the locality from Waziristan to commit acts of terrorism in Karachi to avenge the killing of their accomplices in the military-led operation back in the tribal areas.

On a tip-off about their presence in Swati Mohalla of Gulshan-i-Buner in Quaidabad, contingents of police encircled the place at around 6pm. In the ensuing shootout, lasting for around an hour, five suspects were killed. Two others, wounded in the shooting, were arrested but later they also died, said Malir SSP Rao Anwar.

‘Waziristan-linked militants were planning retaliatory attacks’

He identified one of the dead men as Misbah, a commander of the banned Terheek-i-Taliban Pakistan (Shamim group), belonging to Waziristan. Another dead man was identified as Kamal.

The SSP-Malir said they had received information that the Waziristan-linked militants were planning to target offices of ‘sensitive institutions’, law enforcement agencies personnel and Imambargahs in the city.

He said the group’s three members were also killed in an alleged encounter in Sohrab Goth before Ashura (Oct 31) that led to the seizure of a suicide jacket, an explosives-laden motorbike and a huge cache of arms and ammunition.

The official had claimed at the time that the police had received information that the suspects were planning a suicide attack on the main Ashura procession on M.A. Jinnah Road.

Quaidabad SHO Amanullah Marvat said Misbah was the TTP’s Karachi commander, who was also involved in a bomb attack on the Rangers’ North Nazimabad headquarters. He had shifted from Sohrab Goth to Gulshan-i-Buner recently.

The officer claimed to have seized a Kalashnikov, a hand grenade, two 0.9mm pistols and three pistols from their custody.

The police force of Malir district took part in the targeted operation but no policeman was hurt in an hour-long encounter, said the Quaidabad SHO.

This was the third deadly encounter in the last one month in Malir district as nine suspected militants were gunned down in an exchange of fire with police in Steel Town, off the National Highway, in the last week of October.

Attacks on policemen

In an upsurge in targeted attacks on policemen, another police officer was shot dead while two others were wounded in gun and cracker attacks on two police vehicles on New Preedy Street and M.A. Jinnah Road on Friday morning, officials said.

Both incidents took place within a short span and city police chief Ghulam Qadir Thebo suspected the involvement of a single group in the incidents seeking to “spoil atmosphere of relative peace in the city”.

Four policemen were on their way to the Brigade police station after performing their duty in a police car. When their vehicle slowed down on a turn on New Preedy Street at the Al-Noor cut, two armed motorcyclists apparently already waiting for them opened fire on them, said Brigade police station SHO Ghulam Nabi Afridi.

As a result, two policemen sustained critical wounds and were taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), where doctors pronounced 42-year-old Assistant Sub-Inspector Arshad Tanoli dead on arrival, said Dr Seemin Jamali, head of the emergency department.

Another policeman Ghulam Ali Jatoi sustained bullet wounds in the chest and was later taken to a private hospital on Stadium Road, where his condition was stated to be improving.

The investigators found 10 cartridges fired from the 0.9mm pistol at the spot.

Earlier, two men riding on a motorcycle threw a cracker on a parked police van at Saeed Manzil on M.A. Jinnah Road, which apparently missed its suspected target as it landed outside the mobile, said Preedy SHO Ejaz Khawaja.

However, Police Head Constable Mohammed Asif, three passers-by Nadeem Juman and his 8-year-old son Daruf and 45-year-old Mohammed Irfan sustained injuries.

The policeman was discharged after first aid at the JPMC as he sustained injuries on his hand.

“The same group seems to be involved in the both targeted attacks on the police,” said AIG of Karachi Ghulam Qadir Thebo. He said there was a gap of only half an hour in both incidents.

A closed-circuit television camera installed on M.A. Jinnah Road recorded the footage of the suspects. It showed that an attacker was wearing a helmet while another had a beard.

They both wore jeans and shirts and had healthy physique. “One of the suspects could be identified easily through the footage,” the city police chief said.

About motive and identity of the attackers, the AIG of Karachi said that “both sectarian and political elements” could be involved in recent attacks on policemen, seeking to create chaos in the city.

He added that the police had recommended the Sindh government to announce a reward of Rs5 million for arrest of suspects.

Meanwhile, in a third incident, police escaped a bomb attack as it did not explode in North Karachi.

Sir Syed police station officials said two suspects riding a motorbike threw explosive material near a parked police mobile at UP ‘Mor’ and fled. It was a 650-gram bomb that contained steel balls but it did not explode. Later on, the Bomb Disposal Squad defused it. The police said the botched attack was part of attacks on the police in the city.

On Thursday night, a 40-year-old ASI of the SITE-B police station, Abdul Rasheed, was shot dead near his home in Orangi Town when he was returning after performing his duty.

In Shah Latif Town, a policeman, Abdul Rauf, was wounded while a retired employee of Pakistan Air Force, Jehangir Ismail, was shot dead when armed motorcyclists attacked them on the National Highway near Murghi Khana.

The police believed that the real target was the policeman who was riding a motorcycle in uniform and the retired PAF official had hitched a lift on his bike.

Published in Dawn, November 15th, 2014