CTD says it foils Karachi terror plot, arrests two suspected BLA members

Says suspects attempting to establish network to carry out attacks against security forces, key sites in city

KARACHI:

The Sindh Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) said on Tuesday that it foiled a terrorist plot in Karachi after arresting two men it said are affiliated with the banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), according to a CTD statement.

The CTD said the suspects, identified as Mujahid Baloch and Fareed Baloch, also known as Zakir Bin, were detained during an intelligence-based operation (IBO). The handout said the pair had received training at BLA camps, including in reconnaissance and communications, and had been operating in Karachi on the instructions of commanders Sajid Baloch and Basheer Zeb.

According to the CTD, "the suspects had been gathering information on sensitive installations and were attempting to establish a network to carry out attacks against security forces and other key sites in the city".

Officials said, "They recovered 4kg of explosives, detonators, primacord, and ball bearings during the operation". A case was registered under the Explosives Substances Act and the Anti-Terrorism Act, while further investigations are underway.

"Additional teams, working alongside other security agencies, had been formed to continue the investigation and carry out further operations based on information obtained from the suspects," CTD concluded.

Read: Nine police officers, including two SHOs, martyred in Balochistan terrorist attack

The arrests come just over a week after one of the deadliest attacks on the Pakistan Rangers in recent years in Karachi. On 27 June, three Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) personnel were killed and four others injured after security forces thwarted an attack on a Rangers camp in Karachi. The military's media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said the assault was carried out by Khawarij belonging to the Indian proxy Jamaat-ul-Ahrar.

According to police, a suicide bomber detonated explosives at the camp's main gate before three armed men entered the premises, firing indiscriminately and throwing hand grenades. Security personnel shot dead two of the attackers, while the third was wounded and arrested alive. Police identified him as Usman alias Ali and said a submachine gun, ammunition, and a hand grenade were recovered from him.

Investigators said the suspect told them he was from Jalalabad, Afghanistan. He also claimed that two of the other attackers were Afghan nationals, while the third was a Pakistani from Bajaur who had long been linked to a militant organisation in Afghanistan and had arrived in Karachi a week before the attack.