Blast investigations: Police believe ‘TTP men’ attacked Tanoli

This was the seventh attempt on the life of the former Mauripur SHO.

KARACHI:

Members of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) are most likely behind Friday’s attack on former Mauripur SHO, Shafiq Tanoli, near Old Sabzi Mandi, claimed police investigators.

The police believed that members of the banned outfit attacked him to avenge their colleague’s killing in an encounter. For now, the authorities have beefed up security of at least 10 anti-terror officers in the city, The Express Tribune has learnt.

Tanoli, the in-charge of the police Special Investigation team and an investigating officer for the murder case of Geo Television reporter Wali Babar, survived Friday evening’s bomb attack near his house at Pakhtun Chowk, within the jurisdiction of PIB Colony police station. Two people died in the attack and nearly 20 others were injured. The bomb completely destroyed Tanoli’s Vigo.

Investigations

Soon after the blast, the investigators had believed that the attacker might have been injured in the incident and were looking for him among the injured brought to the hospitals. Tanoli had claimed he saw the man who rammed his motorcycle into the car but jumped off from the two-wheeler right before collision. So far, they have had no luck.

The police investigators were also suspecting that the attacker might have been among the dead, but their suspicions were proved wrong during the investigations. “Both the deceased men have been identified but the attacker was not among them,” District East police chief Munir Shaikh while told The Express Tribune.

The deceased men were identified as Wajid Ali Khan and Jamil Baloch, both residents of the same neighbourhood. The police were suspicious of Jamil but they found later that he worked at a chicken shop for daily wages. “He was not the attacker,” said Crime Investigation Department’s Anti-Extremist Cell chief SP Chaudhry Aslam Khan. “We have checked all the injured persons but we did not find the attacker among them.”

It is possible the attacker was injured but he did not approach any hospital, DIG Shaikh speculated, adding that the motorcycle hit the Vigo but the investigators are trying to determine how it hit the vehicle.  The investigators also determined that it was not a suicide bombing. A motorcycle was parked at that spot which mistakenly fell down.

Act of revenge?

Tanoli has escaped six attacks in the past. Even though Tanoli has several high-profile cases under his belt, investigators suspect that Friday’s attack was an attempt by the TTP to avenge the killing of one of their own men. They have, however, yet to register an FIR.

On November 24, a police team led by Tanoli killed two alleged terrorists affiliated with the TTP, Abdullah and Wahabullah, in an alleged encounter. Both terrorists, accused of killing at least 16 policemen and four police informers in SITE, had been arrested by the Rangers and had been handed over to the police a week before they were killed. Their arrests were disclosed at a press conference by district West police chief Javed Odho.

The two suspects were detained in Mochko police station from where they tried to escape by breaking the windows. The police followed them and eventually killed them in an encounter, the officials had claimed. “It could be a reaction of the TTP militants’ killings,” said SP Khan. “We have traced the group and will arrest them soon.”

The police have prepared an initial report of the blast that suggests the attack was carried out with the help of a bomb fixed in a motorcycle. They have also found the engine and chassis number of this motorcycle. “The terrorists attacked with proper homework,” admitted an official of the bomb disposal squad. “The chassis and engine numbers were already removed before the motorcycle was planted with explosives.” The investigators also have some leads through two cellphones found from the blast site.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 22^nd, 2013.