KARACHI: Police on Friday claimed that a target killer arrested earlier this week was a member of terror outfit Al Qaeda, and was involved in the killing of police officials in the city.

The suspect, Hashim, was arrested from North Nazimabad on Tuesday after the killing of garment factory manager Karim Hashwani and his driver. During interrogation, he allegedly admitted to having killed more than nine people including police officials in Shahra-e-Noor Jahan, Baghdadi and Ferozabad area.

Police claimed Hashim was a member of the Abdullah Omar Khorasani group of Al Qaeda and had come to Karachi from Charsadda specifically to kill Hashwani.

According to the details provided by police, the target killer said that he had come to the city on the directives of a person named Ikram, who had ordered him to kill Hashwani.

Upon reaching Sohrab Goth, Hashim was allegedly picked by another man, Khalid, who took him to a house in Korangi where he stayed for two days.

Hashim was provided weapons by Ikram and Khalid to carry out the killing and was told that he was to kill Hashwani on sectarian grounds.

Rangers and police officials revealed that the network of this alleged Al Qaeda target killer has been involved in the killing of police officials in different parts of Karachi.

Police further said that Hashim received his training from Charsadda and had participated in the Afghan war.

Separately, a militant commander was arrested during a search operation conducted by security forces in Peshawar. Sources said that commander ‘Momim’ had a head price of Rs0.5 million and was sought by authorities since 2009. An FIR has been registered against him, they added.