IS-inspired group likely to be behind military police attack

Same group was behind the attack on Rangers men in Baldia Town last week

KARACHI:

Investigators probing the deadly attack on the military police personnel suspect that an Islamic State (IS)-inspired group was involved.

Two military police personnel were gunned down by two armed men on MA Jinnah Road on Tuesday. This was the second such incident to have occurred in less than a fortnight as apparently the same culprits attacked and killed four Rangers soldiers in Baldia Town last week.



In the aftermath of the deadly attack, an eight-member high-level investigation team comprising police officials has been constituted. The team will be supervised by Dr Jamil Ahmed, who is the head of the investigation team, while Criminal Investigation Agency (CIA) DIG Abdullah Shaikh, District South SSP Dr Muhammad Farooq, District West SSP Ghulam Azfar Mahesar, South Investigation SSP Faizullah Korejo, CTD Investigation SSP Naveed Ahmed Khawaja, CIA SSP Farooq Awan and Preedy SDPO Saeed Rind are members.

The IS-inspired militants arrested in connection with the Safoora bus attack had revealed that their group was involved in the two attacks on police vans on MA Jinnah Road in November last year. "The series of attacks on the law enforcers on MA Jinnah Road confirms the existence of the IS-inspired group in the area," said one of the senior police officials, who is also a member of the investigation team.

"We have asked the officials concerned to trace and arrest the absconding members of this group and also interrogate the already arrested members," he said.



The police investigators are also suspecting the involvement of other militant groups in the attack. "If this group is really involved, it means we will probe not only the killings of the military police soldiers but will directly probe all the recent 11 cases including the targeted killings of four Rangers soldiers in Baldia as the same weapons were used in all these cases."

The police investigators said that the closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage have captured the suspects who were behind the incident. "Most probably, the CCTV footage captured the right suspects but we are trying to trace an eye witness who can help the police make the sketches as we have information that these suspects did not cover their faces with helmet or handkerchief before committing the crime," said police investigation team chairperson DIG Ahmed, while talking to The Express Tribune. "The officers have been assigned to conduct inquiries into the previous incidents in which the same weapons were used."



He said that the pictures of the suspects could also be sent abroad to make them enlarged to identify the suspects properly if needed. DIG Ahmed also recommended a Rs10-million reward for those who help the police in arresting the suspects.



Arrests and killings

The police have sped up their action to trace and arrest the culprits or their facilitators and apprehended nearly 150 suspects from different parts of Saddar and Preedy. "Most of them have been released after they were found uninvolved during initial investigations," explained Preedy SDPO Rind. The officer said that the police are also waiting for the geo-fencing report, adding that the police have recorded the statements of over two dozen shopkeepers and traders to probe the case but no concrete clues have been found. He said that there were reports that some suspects who could be the facilitators of the assailants stayed at a teashop where they thrice ordered tea.

Meanwhile, the paramilitary force and police have sped up their actions and killed two suspects allegedly involved in the attacks on the security forces in Karachi in the past. The suspects, who were killed during an exchange of fire on Northern Bypass when Rangers conducted a raid on a tip-off at their hideout, have yet to be identified. The Rangers have also announced Rs2.5 million as a reward for citizens helping them to arrest the culprits.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 3^rd,  2015.