Breakthrough: Police arrest key suspect in Rangers van attack

An alleged target killer involved in around 26 murders was also apprehended

KARACHI: Within five days of the suicide attack on a Rangers van in North Nazimabad, the police have claimed to make a major breakthrough by arresting one of the key suspects in the incident.

Meanwhile, they also claimed to have apprehended a religious party worker involved in over two dozen cases of sectarian killings. In a press conference at his office on Monday, Gulberg SP Faisal Noor said that one of the key suspects involved in the attack, which claimed the lives of two Rangers personnel on Friday, had been arrested.

The Rangers van was attacked by a suicide bomber who slammed his motorcycle into the vehicle as it was patrolling near Qalandria Chowk on Sharae Noor Jahan. At least two Rangers personnel and two passers-by were also wounded. The attacker has yet to be identified.

According to SP Noor, Syed Talha Hussain, son of Ayed Abbas Baqir, was arrested by the Sharae Noor Jahan police on the basis of evidence collected from the blast site as well as intelligence-based information. “He may have been a mastermind of the incident but we cannot share more details at the moment,” claimed the officer.

SP Noor also claimed that the police had arrested a suspect allegedly involved in sectarian-based targeted killings. Bilal alias Chingari was arrested by the Bilal Colony police during a raid on a tip-off near 4-K Chowrangi in New Karachi. A hand grenade and a TT pistol were also seized from his possession. Noor said that Bilal was a member of a religious party and was involved in around 26 cases of targeted killing. “Most of the people he killed belonged to the Shia community. The victims also included doctors, teachers and a political party worker,” he disclosed, adding that three of Bilal’s accomplices had been killed in recent police encounters while the police were trying to trace others.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 31^st, 2015.