Among the five al Qaeda suspects arrested late Thursday night from the old city area of Karachi was the city chief of the newly created South Asian wing, police said.
Shahid Usman was an important commander in al-Qaeda's newly created South Asian wing, police said on Friday.
CID Anti-Extremist Cell had picked up Usman and four others from the densely populated Old Haji Camp in the notorious Napier area of District South. They also seized weapons and 10 kg of explosives.
Police say Usman is the head of the al Qaeda wing in Karachi and was planning more attacks there. "He is the Karachi chief of al Qaeda's newly formed wing working under the set-up of Asim Umar, the South Asia chief of al Qaeda," a senior official at the police counter-terrorism unit said.
The official said Usman lived in Defence Housing Authority, a wealthy neighbourhood, and owned an auto-parts dealership in one of the city's most expensive commercial areas.
"Unlike the usual militant profile, Usman comes from an affluent background," the police officer said.
Officials said Usman was previously associated with the Harkatul-Jihad al Islami militant group, whose operational commander, Ilyas Kashmiri, was killed in a US drone strike in 2011 near the Afghan border.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 13th, 2014.
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