Two people have been arrested by the Counter-Terrorism Department for the murder of famed qawwal Amjad Sabri and other high-profile cases, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah told journalists on Monday.
"The CTD headed by Raja Umar Khattab made a major breakthrough and arrested two people from Liaquatabad called Ishaq alias Bobby and Asim alias Capri. Their weapons were also recovered... After a probe and forensic investigation, we found proof of involvement in 28 cases."
The men are affiliated with the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi Naeem Bukhari group, the chief minister said. "There is no affiliation with a political party, it is a proscribed organisation."
"Asim alias Capri was Amjad Sabri's neighbour. We have not found any motive [behind the murder] as yet, but it seems sectarian to us because Sabri used to frequent majalis and had links to Ahle Tashi," he said.
Shah said there was 'conclusive proof' that the two were part of a gang involved in nine 'major incidents':
Oct 29 attack on Nazimabad majlis
Oct 17 attack on a majlis
July 26 attack on army personnel in Saddar
June 22 attack on Amjad Sabri
May 21 killing of two traffic constables at Aisha Manzil
April 20 attack on policemen
Dec 2015 attack on military police near Tibet Centre
Nov 20, 2015 attack on Rangers personnel in Ittehad Town
Aug 29, 2015 attack on Supreme Court judge Advocate Syed Hamid Haider in Hassan Square
"We will try to follow the lead through the arrested ones and apprehend rest of the gang," he said.
The weapons were matched using empty bullet casings collected from crime scenes and bullets retrieved during post mortems, the Sindh CM said.