Karachi Rangers attack 'mastermind' arrested

Police on Tuesday said the mastermind of the deadly attack on a Rangers camp in Karachi last month has been arrested, adding that the terrorists had training and "backing from Afghanistan".

On the night of June 27, terrorists attacked the local headquarters of the Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) in Karachi's Gulistan-e-Jauhar area, during which three security personnel were martyred and four were injured, according to Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday alongside Home Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar, City Senior Superintendent of Police Irfan Bahadur detailed the involvement of elements from Afghanistan in the "entire planning" and execution of the attack.

The SSP identified the "mastermind" of the attack as Qari Basheer alias Qari Habib, adding that he was arrested during an operation by Rangers following the incident. He said some of Qari Basheer's "main facilitators" and the "main smugglers" who provided weapons to the terrorists had also been arrested.

Lanjar said all the terrorists' handlers were guiding them from Afghan soil and wanted to sabotage its peace by taking people hostage. He added that after the incident, law enforcement agencies (LEAs) "discovered a network of facilitators involved in the attack through a comprehensive effort".

Providing details on the attack, SSP Bahadur listed the "four phases" of carrying out the attack: "First of all, the planning and training of terrorists in Afghanistan. Secondly, four Afghan terrorists being taken from Afghanistan to Karachi."

The SSP added that there was "backing from Afghanistan to run the facilitator group in Karachi", while also giving them instructions "till the last stage from Afghanistan". "And lastly, the provision of weapons, ammunition and suicide jackets to terrorists," he said. The SSP identified the suicide bomber as Janaan, who was a resident of Afghanistan's Farah province.