Rangers foil terrorist activity on Chehlum in Rohri

Paramilitary force shot and killed three terrorists before two of them could detonate bombs

KARACHI: The Rangers claimed on Friday to have foiled a major terrorist activity in Rohri on the occasion of the Chehlum of Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA) by killing three militants, including two suicide bombers, near an imambargah.

"We had already tightened security in collaboration with the other law enforcement agencies after we received intelligence about a possible terror activity in Sindh on the occasion of the Chehlum of Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA)," said a paramilitary force spokesperson.

"The troops deputed at the security check point near Bab-e-Karbala Imambargah in Rohri tried to stop the three suspected militants but they increased their speed to bypass the security and two of them tried to blow themselves up. However, the troops responded on time and killed all three militants before they could blow themselves up," the spokesperson added.



After the shoot-out, experts from the bomb disposal squad were immediately called to the scene and defused the explosive vests. "The slain terrorists were planning to carry out suicide attacks at Bab-e-Karbala Imambargah in Rohri, a town of Sukkur district," the Rangers spokesperson said.

According to the spokesperson, the initial investigations had confirmed that the terrorists intended to target the imambargah. Moreover, all the three terrorists belonged to a terrorist outfit and the officials were trying to ascertain their identities, the spokesperson said.

The threat of terrorist attacks in rural Sindh has risen in recent years as militant outfits have strengthened in parts of the province including Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Rohri and Sehwan. The terrorist attacks in the past couple of years targeting imambargahs and sufi shrines bear testimony to this. Investigators believe that banned militant outfits - Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and Shafiq Mengal group - are the principal terrorist groups which have presence in rural Sindh.



A bomb explosion claimed by the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which targeted a Muharram procession near Shershah Haveli in Jacobabad's Lashari Muhalla, killed at least 20 people and injured many others in October 2015.  In another incident, at least 61 people were killed and 50 others injured when an explosion occurred at an Imambargah in Shikarpur on January 2015, which was claimed by the militant organisation, Jundullah.