• ‘TTP man wanted for killings of 16 coal miners in KP’ held in Ittehad Town
• DIG says suspect Shoaib was planning to carry out suicide attack on a Muharram procession in Karachi
• Says he is now ‘90pc sure’ TTP involved in DSP Raza’s assassination

KARACHI: While the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) was “90 per cent” sure that the assassination of its senior officer DSP Ali Raza had been carried out by the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), CTD officials on Wednesday claimed to have foiled a terror plot by arresting an alleged key TTP commander, said to be planning a suicide attack on a Muharram procession in Orangi Town.

The July 7 attack on DSP Raza and the botched plot to target the Muharram procession seem to indicate the re-emergence of the banned TTP in Karachi, which allegedly already has ‘sleeper cells’ in the metropolis.

However, a senior CTD official was reluctant to openly talk about this at a press conference held at the CTD Garden office to announce the arrest of the TTP commander. “There are sleeper cells of the TTP, but it will not be advisable to talk about specific things regarding re-emergence of the banned outfit in Karachi,” said CTD DIG Asif Ejaz Shaikh.

‘Strong TTP network broken’

Responding to questions, the DIG CTD said that there was a ‘strong network’ of the TTP in Karachi but it had been ‘broken’.

“It is possible that the TTP can be involved in it,” he said when asked whether the banned outfit killed DSP Raza on July 7. “If you ask me about the degree or percentage, I will say that we are 90pc sure that the TTP is involved in the killing of DSP Ali Raza.”

He said that there had been ‘TTP sleeper cells’, but it would not be advisable to talk about ‘specific things’ regarding ‘re-emergence’ of the banned outfit in Karachi.

The officer said they had got ‘some clues’ and they were working on it. “This is our own case and we will solve it,” declared DIG Shaikh.

Plot to attack Muharram procession

Giving details of the arrest of the TTP militant, he said the CTD had arrested Mohammad Shoaib after an encounter in Ittehad Town.

He was said to be one of the ’most-wanted commanders of the TTP“ who was allegedly involved in many heinous crimes, including the murder of 16 miners in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He was planning a suicide attack on a procession to be taken out in Orangi Town on Muharram 7, the officer said.

“Shoaib is a commander of the TTP Darra Adam Khel for whose arrest the KP government has announced a Rs2 million reward,” he said, adding that he had kidnapped 16 coal miners in Khyber Agency and demanded ransom from their families. However, over non-payment of the ransom, the suspect had shot dead all 16 miners and buried them in a mass grave in Gul Tangi Jawaki area.

The held suspect’s son, Zakaullah, along with other TTP men was shot dead in an encounter with the army, the officer said. “He is the most-wanted militant for KP police, CTD and other law enforcers.”

During the initial probe, the suspect allegedly revealed that he along with his accomplices had planned a grenade and suicide attack on the 7th of Muharram procession in Orangi Town.

The police claimed to have recovered one Kalashnikov, two hand grenades, explosive material and one improvised explosive device from his possession.

Published in Dawn, July 11th, 2024