Taliban commander arrested in Karachi

KARACHI: Security forces, on Monday, arrested Taliban commander Abdullah and his brother from Karachi.

Abdullah was in charge of Imam Dherai centre which is considered a hub of militants.

Security forces arrested him during a raid at a house in Karachi. Authorities say he belonged to Kooza Bandai area of Swat and is also a close aide of Maulana Fazalullah.

The CID recently swooped down on militants in Karachi nabbing suspects who were planning attacks to target Shias ahead of Ashura. The suspects belonged to the militant groups Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Tehrik-i-Taliban.

Following the arrests, Karachi saw an audacious coordinated gun and car bomb suicide attack on the Crime Investigation Department (CID) building. There were speculations at that time that the attack was in response to the arrests CID had made the day before. However, a senior intelligence official speaking to The Express Tribune had denied the attack had anything to do with the arrests. The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan had claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was in retaliation to US air strikes in the country’s northwestern tribal areas.