Police kill Da’ish commander in Karachi shootout

Suspected militant was involved in 59 murders in Karachi and Hyderabad

KARACHI: An operational commander of Da’ish allegedly involved in dozens of murders in Karachi and Hyderabad was killed in a shootout with Karachi police on Thursday.

Kamran Aslam alias Kamran Gujjar, who carried a bounty of Rs2.5 million, was wounded in an exchange of fire during a raid at a hideout in Ittehad Town, Sindh AIG Mushtaq Mehar announced in a news conference. The suspected militant was shifted to hospital but succumbed to his injuries.



Mehar said Kamran was a trained militant associated with the Islamic State group known by its Arabic acronym Da’ish. He had been previously affiliated with al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent.

The alleged mastermind of the Safoora Goth massacre, Tahir Hussain Minhas, had told investigators about Kamran’s involvement in a number of terrorism activities, including bomb attacks on imambargahs, mosques and killing of police and Rangers personnel. Documents released to the media stated the suspect had carried out 39 attacks in Karachi and Hyderabad since 2012 which left around 59 people dead.

The attacks targeted law enforcement personnel, political workers as well as Shias and Bohra Muslims.

The suspect was said to be involved in three bank heists – two in Hyderabad and one in Panjgur, Balochistan, where Rs8.2 million were looted.

AIG Mehar said the suspect’s group was planning a number of attacks against political figures, lawmakers and on police, Rangers and army officers in the near future.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 18^th, 2016.