KARACHI: The militants involved in the killing of 47 Shia Ismaili community members, including women, near Safoora Goth on May 13 were inspired by the self-styled Islamic State, said a top police investigator of the case on Wednesday.

“The militants established their own group in the year 2014 but they did not give it a name,” said Raja Umer Khattab, an official of the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of police.

“This group is inspired by terror activities of Islamic State or Daish and wanted to establish their link with it,” added the CTD official while speaking at a press conference at his office.

They were previously associated with Al-Qaeda but last year Tahir alias Minhas alias Sain, the key suspect in the Safoora bus attack case, developed some differences with another militant, Jalal, over provision of funds and other organisational matters, the officer said. Later, Tahir established his own group while Jalal remained associated with Al-Qaeda, he added.

It was possible that Jalal-led Al-Qaeda militants were involved in the recent killing of two deputy superintendents of police, one superintendent of police and other police officers, believed the officer.

He said the interrogation by a joint investigation team (JIT) of the five detained suspects had been completed. Besides Tahir, the other four suspects were Saad Aziz, Hafiz Nasir Ahmed, Mohammed Azhar Ishrat and Asad Rehman.

Suspect Saad Aziz attended two seminars at T2F before allegedly killing rights activist Sabeen Mahmud, according to CTD officer Raja Umer Khattab

The polygraph test of the suspects corroborated their confession about their involvement in over two dozen terror attacks, said CTD officer Raja Umer Khattab.

In reply to a question, he said he could not rule out the possibility of links of Jalal-led militants with Indian ‘RAW’ or other anti-Pakistan agency.

Safoora carnage planning

The militants had planned to target Ismaili community members two months ago, the officer said. He said they had done a recce of the bus five times and prepared a map in which six points were shown. At least 10 militants actually took part in the terror act while their two accomplices were present in their cars at nearby places, he disclosed.

A CTD team inspected the bus and found some evidence, which helped them identify and arrest the suspects, the officer claimed.

According to him, at least six attackers got into the bus. Some of them were wearing police uniform, others were clad in shalwar-qameez and trousers and shirts. Four of the attackers fired at the passengers, another drove the bus while one stood on the door so that no one could escape.

The attackers used foreign weapons, said the investigation officer, adding that they executed the plan within 10 to 12 minutes.

The police seized blood-stained clothes of Abdullah Mansoori (code name) and Tahir Minhas, alias Minhas, alias Sain, the mastermind of the Safoora attack case.

Sabeen Mahmud case

The CTD officer said Saad Aziz was the main suspect in the murder of rights activist Sabeen Mahmud. Before killing her, he had attended two seminars at her social forum, The Second Floor, the officer said, showing a picture in which he was seen sitting there.

“Saad Aziz hatched a plan to kill Sabeen Mahmud as he did not like her views about Lal Masjid cleric, Valentine’s Day and Burqa (veil),” said the CTD official.

On the day of her killing, Saad Aziz, Ali Rehman, Haif Umer, Mehmood (code name) and Tayab (code name) were present at the crime scene, the police investigator said.

As Ms Mahmud left her office along with her mother and driver in a car, Saad Aziz and Mehmood chased them on their motorcycle and targeted her at the Defence traffic signal before fleeing, the officer added.

Terror network

Mr Khattab said that Tahir Minhas had been associated with the Al-Qaeda group which was active in Karachi and Hyderabad, while their local leader was Jalal who along with Haji Sahib (elder brother of Ramzi Yusuf) used to provide funds to terrorists. Jalal was associated with Al-Qaeda’s Arab network while Haji Sahib (code name) was active in Karachi and Wadh area of Balochistan where the group’s mainly Baloch youths were involved in kidnapping for ransom, terrorism and attacks on Nato forces containers, according to the CTD officer.

On the occasion, the officer also displayed photos of the Al-Qaeda members, identified as Hasan Masood, Mohammed Amir Khan, Irshadullah and Kamran Aslam, who were allegedly involved in the recent killing of policemen.

Hit list

The police investigators had also seized a list from the held suspects. It showed that they were planning attacks on media persons, fashion designers, representatives of civil society organisations and government officials, said Mr Khattab.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2015

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