Investigators have no leads in cop killings

Despite obtaining CCTV footage, interviewing witnesses, officials still clueless

KARACHI: Despite the lapse of a few days since the killing of four policemen in Karachi, investigators have yet to locate or arrest the culprits.

A police mobile officer, mobile van driver and two constables, all from the SITE A Section police station, were shot dead by gunmen riding two motorcycles. The policemen were having iftar at a roadside hotel on Friday evening when they were killed.

One constable, Khalid, was buried in Karachi, while the remaining three belonged to other parts of the country and their bodies were moved to their hometowns for the burial process. The victims were buried separately on Saturday. A case was also registered at the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) under the Anti-Terrorism Act against unknown suspects.

"It was apparently a pre-planned attack, as these cops had been visiting the same hotel for a few days," explained a senior police official privy to matter. "They were targeted and killed after being monitored."



The officer said that the investigators were also obtaining footages recorded by closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed around the crime scene. Besides camera footage, the investigators have also recorded the statements of nearly a dozen witnesses, including the hotel staff.

According to the officials, the group involved in the attack bears similarities to others involved in previous major terror activities in Karachi. "This group has similarities to the groups associated with Da’ish and alQaeda, such as the Saad Aziz group, involved in the Safoora Goth carnage and nearly 37 other major terrorism cases, as this group adopted the same modus operandi," explained a senior anti-terror officer.

The investigators also decided to interrogate the terrorists already in custody in major high-profile cases, including the Saad Aziz group and Asim Capri and Ishaq Bobby arrested by the CTD police for the assassination of Qawwali maestro Amjad Sabri, to obtain clues on how to close in on the terrorists involved in the recent unsolved cases of terrorism. These cases include the targeted killing of a retired military officer near the Baloch Colony Flyover and an attack on a police mobile in Dhoraji Society.