KPO terrorist attack ‘facilitator’ arrested

Investigators collect more evidence from search as death toll rises to five

KARACHI:

In headway in the investigation into Friday's terrorist attack on the Karachi Police Office (KPO), police arrested a suspected facilitator and seven other suspects from different areas of the city, sources said on Sunday.

Sindh Police Chief Ghulam Nabi Memon said that a high-level committee had been formed to investigate the attack, which included officers from the police departments' Crime Investigation Agency and the Counter- Terrorism Department (CTD).

According to the sources, the alleged facilitator was arrested by the CTD officials from the Gulistan-e-Jauhar neighbourhood in the night between Saturday and Sunday.

They added that seven more suspects were arrested during raids in difference slum areas.

Terrorists wearing suicide vests and carrying automatic weapons and grenades stormed the KPO on Friday evening, triggering a ragging battle with security forces in which four people were martyred.

The deceased included two policemen and a Rangers inspector, while 16 others sustained injuries, officials said, adding that the forces retook the building after killing the three militants, involved in the attack.

The arrests came after the geo-fencing of the crime scene, the sources said.

They added that data about the arrested suspects was being collected from the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA).

On the other hand, the sources continued, nine different teams, including the bomb disposal squads from the police and the military, completed the final search of the compound and seized several more items for evidence.

The items found in the search included a hand grenade, new pistols packed in plastic box with complete accessories, a pack of 9mm bullets, dagger, digital camera, smart mobile phone, two watches and a men's wallet.

Other items, according to the sources, included 210 fired and unfired bullets, grenade shrapnels, burnt-out fabric from suicide jacket, a burnt-out bag, a USB (universal serial bus) and a pistol holder.

The recoveries had been handed over to the Sadar Police.

Speaking to Express News, Inspector General of Sindh Police Ghulam Nabi Memon said that two of three terrorists, who assaulted the KPO had been identified, but the identity of the suicide bomber had not yet been ascertained.

"We will expose the terrorist groups and facilitators behind this attack," Memon said.

"A high-level committee has been formed to investigate the attack and arrests are being made," the police chief added.

Meanwhile, an injured policeman breathed his last while undergoing treatment at a hospital, increasing the death toll from the assault to five.

The martyred policeman, Abdul Latif, was posted in Security Zone I. He belonged to Shikarpur.