KARACHI: Police on Thursday registered a case against unidentified attackers under the anti-terrorism act for killing of seven policemen guarding polio workers in Orangi Town on Wednesday, officials said.

This was a first time that the Counter-Terrorism Department of police had registered an FIR against suspects on behalf of the state, said CTD in-charge Raja Umer Khattab.

Investigators have started a probe by visiting two separate crime scenes and holding a meeting to find out the killers and their motive.

Karachi-West Zone DIG Feroze Shah, who visited the spot, told Dawn that they were focusing on ‘two or three aspects’ of the case, but added that it would not be advisable to divulge its details with media at this time.

Mr Khattab said they were focusing on possible involvement of banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent.

The officer said that although a splinter group of the Tehreek Taliban Pakistan, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, had claimed responsibility for killing the policemen, it had no network here. The CTD official said that this militant group may have acted in coordination with the LJ.

The CTD official said the LJ had never claimed responsibility for carrying out terror acts.

Mr Khattab suggested that real target of the attackers appeared to be the policemen but at the same time, they wanted to undermine anti-polio drive by killing the policemen guarding the polio workers.

He hinted that the suspects may not have targeted the polio workers because most of them were ladies, who were being guarded by the slain policemen.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2016