Nine suspected militants shot dead in sweeps

KARACHI: Nine suspected militants were shot dead on Wednesday in sweeps carried out by Rangers and police officials in Karachi. The suspects are believed to be associated with al Qaeda and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

The most notorious among them were the alleged Karachi commander of al Qaeda’s Ilyas Kashmiri group and the suspected Sohrab Goth commander of the TTP’s Mullah Fazlullah group. The first operation was carried out in the Tapu locality of Keamari.

The suspects killed by the Rangers included Muhammad Umar alias Fahad alias Moon, who is believed to have headed the Ilyas Kashmiri group in Karachi, and four of his alleged accomplices.

A spokesperson for the paramilitary force said the suspects were involved in the February 14 suicide attack in Qayyumabad on a Rangers’ sector commander, but he had survived the attack. The spokesperson said the suspects were also involved in attacking law enforcers’ vans in Landhi and North Karachi, as well as high-profile killings, bank robberies and kidnappings.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 9^th, 2015.