KARACHI: Two suspected militants, said to be associated with the proscribed Sindhudesh Revolutionary Army (SRA) and involved in the recent blast in Saddar, were gunned down in an alleged encounter on Wednesday, police said.

Counter-Terrorism Dep­art­ment (CTD) official Mazhar Mashwani told Dawn that the police and an intelligence agency carried out a joint raid on Mauripur Road, where Allah Dino, 28, and Nawab Ali, 26, were killed in a gun battle.

He said that the slain suspects had direct links with the head of banned SRA, Asghar Shah.

They were involved in the recent improvised explosive device (IED) blast in the busy commercial area of Saddar, he said.

On May 12, an unidentified suspect detonated an IED attached with a bicycle with the help of a remote control in the busy Saddar area killing a passer-by and injuries to several others. The banned SRA claimed responsibility of the attack targeting an official vehicle of the Pakistan Coast Guards.

The official said the CTD got information about their hideouts and it conducted a raid in the Mauripur area, where they were killed during an exchange of gunfire.

He did not divulge much detail and added that acting Inspector General of Police Kamran Fazal might share further information with the media at a press conference on Thursday (today).

The bodies of the two suspects were brought to the Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi for a post-mortem examination.

Mashwani told the media there that the CTD and intelligence agencies were jointly working to trace the perpetrators of the recent blasts. He said their third accomplice managed to escape.

He claimed that explosives, remote control, detonators and two TT pistols were recovered from their hideout.

When asked about the role of the slain suspects in the Saddar blast, the CTD official said they had ‘strong reasons’ to believe that they were involved in the case.

‘Fake encounter’

However, the Jeay Sindh Qaumi Party (JSQP) chairman, Nawaz Khan Zaur, in a statement termed the Mauripur encounter as ‘fake.

“Allah Dino alias A D Rahimoon was not a terrorist but the central finance secretary of the JSQP,” he said, adding that he was a resident of Chhachhro and doing a job in Hyderabad.

“He was picked up a few days ago and killed in the fake encounter,” he stated.

“A D was not associated with any banned outfit. He used to take part in demonstrations against enforced disappearances,” he said, adding that a protest against the killing on Thursday.

Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2022