CTD to target 'women's wing' of Islamic State-inspired group in Karachi

Officials say group is being operated by the wives of suspects arrested in connection with the Safoora carnage

KARACHI: Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) officials are set to arrest the wife of Safoora attack mastermind Saad Aziz and other women part of the ‘women wing’ of an IS-inspired group operating in the metropolis, an official privy to the development told The Express Tribune.

“We were delaying their arrests because they are women,” the official said. “But now the stage has come to arrest them.”

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CTD officials claim that the women’s terror wing of the IS-inspired group is being operated by the families, particularly the wives of suspects arrested in connection with the Safoora carnage and other terrorist attacks in Karachi.

The wife and a mother-in-law of Saad Aziz, a key suspect arrested for involvement in the Safoora bus attack, the wife of retired PIA engineer Khalid Yousuf Bari (who was also arrested for involvement in the attack), the wife of Mufti Tauseef (who is an absconder in the attack) and some other women are operating a strong network, the official said. “But Khalid Yousuf Bari’s wife is playing a vital role in operating the group.”



“Bari’s wife also used to run an organisation - Idara al-Zakra Academy comprising of nearly 20 rich women who used to generate funds in the names of donations, zakat and khairat for the terror outfits,” explained CTD in-charge Raja Omar Khattab. “The second responsibility of the women wing is to recruit the women in the organisation through sermons and videos about the IS by distributing the USBs,” he added.

CTD officials said that they have started keeping a close eye on the women wing of the terror outfit and they will be arrested soon. Apart from these, the CTD officials have also started keeping a close eye on various educational insinuations in Karachi and all of Sindh as the group has influences in various colleges, universities and other educational insinuations in the province to recruit highly-educated people in the group.



Four highly-educated people have so far been arrested for involvement in the Safoora carnage. Gunmen shot dead 45 members of the Ismaili community during an execution style attack on their bus in Safoora Goth in May this year.

On Friday, a special unit of the police announced the arrest of a man who allegedly bankrolled the militants who carried out the grisly Safoora Goth bus attack. Adil Masood Butt as a highly educated man, having graduated (BSc) in management from Indiana University in the US before completing an MBA from Fordham University. Further, he is a member of the board of governors of the College of Accounting and Management Sciences (CAMS) in Karachi, holding around 50 per cent of shares of the institution.

Further, he is a partner in the restaurant owned by the chief suspect in the Safoora bus attack – Saad Aziz – an IBA graduate.