‘Mastermind’ of Quetta hospital carnage eliminated

Four other high-profile terrorists also killed in Pishin raid

QUETTA: The mastermind of the August 8 carnage at the Civil Hospital and four other high-profile terrorists were killed in a raid in Pishin district on Monday.

Around 72 people – including 53 top lawyers of Balochistan – were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up in the midst of a crowd of lawyers who had gathered at the hospital to mourn the fatal shooting of Bilal Anwar Kasi, the president of the Balochistan Bar Association.



“Jehangir Badini alias Ameer Sahab, the mastermind of the bombing, was among five militants killed in the raid in the Huramzai area of Pishin,” Home Minister Sarfraz Bugti told a news conference at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat where he was flanked by IGP Ahsan Mehboob and Home Secretary Akbar Harifal. Two Levies officials were also wounded in the operation, he said. However, he wouldn’t share details of the raid.

As part of the plan, Badini had shot dead Kasi and, when the body was driven to the Civil Hospital, the suicide bomber lurking there struck. Bugti said Law College Principal Barrister Amanullah Achakzai, SHO Sariab Mushtaq Ahmed, and four Hazara women were also killed by Badini.

Bugti claimed the ultra-extremist Middle Eastern group, Islamic State, or Da’ish, had no organised presence in Balochistan. “Militant groups, including TTP, Jaishul Islam and Lashkar-e-Jangvi Al Alami which have formed a symbiotic nexus are being funded by India’s RAW and Afghanistan’s NDS. These groups have been behind such targeted violence,” he added.



These groups, he claimed, had no links with Da’ish. “IS had tried to establish a foothold in Balochistan, but its cadres were killed in the border district of Nushki.”



Bugti revealed that the hospital bomber has been identified through a DNA test a few days back. “He has been identified as Ahmed Ali, s/o Sajjad Ali, resident of Killi Dehba, Quetta,” Bugti added. “After the identification of the bomber we carried out the search operation in Huramzai last night.”

He said investigations into the police training centre carnage were under way. “We will share details once we complete the investigation process.” He added that the police had seized an explosives factory and recovered 42 kilos of explosives, five suicide jackets and other material.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 6^th, 2016.