Evolving crimes: Twin bombs - a new ploy to hunt police targets
At least 13 law enforcers were targeted in separate attacks across Karachi in January.
PHOTO: FILE
KARACHI:
Militants in Karachi are tired - tired of the wait to kill their target. They have developed a new approach: draw the prey into a particular location and then pull the trigger.
At least 13 law enforcement personnel, including a Crime Investigation Department (CID) inspector, were targeted in separate attacks across Karachi in January. The police are anticipating more coordinated attacks.
The double bombing in Quaidabad left at least two policemen - DSP Kamal Mangan and sub-inspector Akbar - dead and several other people wounded.
There has been a massive shift in the strategy of terrorists, said Crime Investigation Department (CID) SSP Fayyaz Khan. “Earlier, militants targeted law enforcers after proper monitoring and information. But it was too risky.
They had to be always prepared for the right time,” he said. “But now, they don’t need to find or track us. Now they themselves plan where to call us and take us down.”
Using low-intensity blasts to draw attention, the terrorist go for the kill when law enforcers have arrived at the site.
Once enough people have gathered at the place, another bomb, this time of a higher intensity, goes off nearby. This is possibly done with a remote-controlled explosive device.
This is being done as a “joint venture” by terrorists associated with the outlawed Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, the police suspect.
SSP Fayyaz Khan said the militants are planning another strategy to use suspected terrorists who have been acquitted by courts. “The terrorists released from jails would file petitions against the police officials of keeping them in prison without evidence,” he said. “When we will go to courts, they will target us on the way or at the courts.”
They can use suicide bombers or explosives-laden motorcycles for this, the SSP said. The officers of police’s specialised units, including the CID, Anti-Extremist Cell and Special Investigation Unit are especially on the targets as disclosed by some recently arrested terrorists during interrogation.
“Another tactical change is that at first they were only targeting specialised police officers but now they are targeting just about everyone in their areas of domination,” he explained.
Intelligence agencies have also warned about double bomb attacks on law enforcers, SSP Raja Umar Khattab, the chief of CID’s counter terrorism and financial crime unit, told The Express Tribune. “The Orangi Town double bombing in Muharram was the start of a new strategy,” he said.
A few days ago, Pirabad police escaped a similar attack as the law enforcers found and defused the other bomb planted near the site of the first blast. “It was a remote-controlled device that we were able to spot before it went off,” Pirabad SHO Shahid Khan said. “We cordoned off the area up to 200 metres and that saved us. Nobody present at the site would have walked off alive if the bomb had exploded as it was planted near a warehouse storing LPG cylinders.”
The effective range of remote is within 100 metres, according to bomb disposal experts.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 14th, 2013.
Militants in Karachi are tired - tired of the wait to kill their target. They have developed a new approach: draw the prey into a particular location and then pull the trigger.
At least 13 law enforcement personnel, including a Crime Investigation Department (CID) inspector, were targeted in separate attacks across Karachi in January. The police are anticipating more coordinated attacks.
The double bombing in Quaidabad left at least two policemen - DSP Kamal Mangan and sub-inspector Akbar - dead and several other people wounded.
There has been a massive shift in the strategy of terrorists, said Crime Investigation Department (CID) SSP Fayyaz Khan. “Earlier, militants targeted law enforcers after proper monitoring and information. But it was too risky.
They had to be always prepared for the right time,” he said. “But now, they don’t need to find or track us. Now they themselves plan where to call us and take us down.”
Using low-intensity blasts to draw attention, the terrorist go for the kill when law enforcers have arrived at the site.
Once enough people have gathered at the place, another bomb, this time of a higher intensity, goes off nearby. This is possibly done with a remote-controlled explosive device.
This is being done as a “joint venture” by terrorists associated with the outlawed Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, the police suspect.
SSP Fayyaz Khan said the militants are planning another strategy to use suspected terrorists who have been acquitted by courts. “The terrorists released from jails would file petitions against the police officials of keeping them in prison without evidence,” he said. “When we will go to courts, they will target us on the way or at the courts.”
They can use suicide bombers or explosives-laden motorcycles for this, the SSP said. The officers of police’s specialised units, including the CID, Anti-Extremist Cell and Special Investigation Unit are especially on the targets as disclosed by some recently arrested terrorists during interrogation.
“Another tactical change is that at first they were only targeting specialised police officers but now they are targeting just about everyone in their areas of domination,” he explained.
Intelligence agencies have also warned about double bomb attacks on law enforcers, SSP Raja Umar Khattab, the chief of CID’s counter terrorism and financial crime unit, told The Express Tribune. “The Orangi Town double bombing in Muharram was the start of a new strategy,” he said.
A few days ago, Pirabad police escaped a similar attack as the law enforcers found and defused the other bomb planted near the site of the first blast. “It was a remote-controlled device that we were able to spot before it went off,” Pirabad SHO Shahid Khan said. “We cordoned off the area up to 200 metres and that saved us. Nobody present at the site would have walked off alive if the bomb had exploded as it was planted near a warehouse storing LPG cylinders.”
The effective range of remote is within 100 metres, according to bomb disposal experts.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 14th, 2013.