Terror tactics: Zaman Town police given till Sept 3 to question bus attack suspects

Judge gives custody of three attackers in Chakra Goth attack as well.

KARACHI:

Two men suspected of taking part in the Friday attack on a bus of police commandos were handed over to the Zaman Town police for questioning till September 3.

The police produced Atif and Abdul Hakeem before the judge of the anti-terrorism courts, Justice Maqbool Baqar, on Monday. Another man, identified as Shahid alias Burger, was killed, allegedly in retaliatory fire by some of the policemen inside the bus. The police claimed that they seized a Kalashnikov from the body of Shahid and a TT pistol from Atif and a repeater gun from Abdul Hakeem.

According to the police papers, the men on the run are Mansoor, Naeem Akhtar, Asif, Farhan, Saghir and Shahid alias Chitta, Iqbal Umair, Junaid, Ayaz, Imran, Saleem and ten to 15 others who have yet to be identified.

In a separate case, the same judge remanded three men - Mohsin, Subhan and Abul Bashar alias Bengali - to the Zaman Town police till September 3 for the fight between two groups at Chakra Goth.

The police showed the men as arrested in seven diffferent cases. One of these, the main FIR, No. 433/2011, was lodged by Sindh Taraqi Passand Party leader Ashique Chandio. According to him, on Friday, August 19, he heard a commotion outside his residence. When he came out he saw members of a rival party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, assembling and within minutes they started firing. Chandio alleged that later the attackers killed Muhammad Hussain Lund and Muhammad Suleman and injured more than 10 other residents. Seven vehicles were torched by the attackers, the complainant told the police in his FIR. He nominated Shakir, Muhammad Mir, Zafar Bengali, Musharraf, Khan Soomro, Abul Bashar alias Bengali and Khalid Baloch.

The police brought the men to court amid strict security measures to seek 14 days of physical custody.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 23^rd,  2011.