Men in black in the city

FBI team to train Sindh police in counterterrorism.

KARACHI: The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials are in the city to give anti-terrorism training to our very own Sindh police.

A few months ago, the Sindh government had requested the United States consul general in Karachi to help train the local police in modern counterterrorist mechanisms, including locating and defusing bombs. On this request, the legal attaché in the US Embassy, Islamabad, assured the provincial government that they would do the needful and delegated the task to the FBI.

The men in black arrived in Karachi on Sunday, according to officials, and met with IG Sindh Salahuddin Babar Khattak, CCPO Karachi Fayyaz Leghari and others.

The FBI team will visit the police training centres in Saeedabad and Razzaqabad. Their agenda includes training policemen the know-how of the latest bomb-defusing technology and handling a post-bomb blast situation.

According to officials, the training course will last for seven days, the men will give lectures on bomb defusing during the first five days and in the last two days, they will be taught what to do after a bomb blast has taken place.

Target killings continue

Target killings resurfaced across the city on Sunday with the deaths of four more people, including a former Sunni Tehreek (ST) activist and two Bengali men.

A 29-year-old man, identified as Kamran was shot dead within the limits of the Risala Police Station.

SHO Tariq Emran said the victim was a former ST activist and a driver by profession. In a separate incident, a 45-year-old trader, Imran Khan, was shot dead by unidentified men in a Prado jeep near Khan’s house in Gulshan-e-Iqbal. The police also found the body of a 28-year-old Bengali man, identified as Abdullah, near Korangi 100 Quarter.

Similarly, Ayub Bengali, 42, was shot dead inside his house in the Kausar Niazi Colony within the limits of the North Nazimabad police station. Meanwhile, three people were injured when unidentified men opened fire in Ashfaq Colony on Sunday. The injured were taken to the Civil hospital, where the condition of 22-year-old Tahir Khan. Drug peddlers in the area are believed to be behind the incident.

Activists of the Awami National Party (Sindh chapter), as well as members of the Pakhtun community, blocked the KPT road and the Native Jetty Bridge in protest against the incident. According to an ANP activist, the incident was the result of clashes between two groups who openly sell drugs in the area. He said that they had opened fire during their quarrel, in which pedestrians had been injured.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 25^th, 2010.