SSP Rao escapes grenade attack

The police, however, chase attackers after abortive attack and killed five of them in gunfight

KARACHI: A day after a senior officer of the Sindh police was killed along with his driver and guard in an ambush, another official escaped a hand grenade attack in the Malir neighbourhood of the metropolis on Saturday. The police, however, chased the attackers after the abortive attack and killed five of them in a gunfight.

Malir District SSP Rao Anwar remained unhurt in the attack which took place as he was driving along Malir Link Road in a police armoured personnel carrier (APC).

“I was on my way to the spot where DSP Fateh Muhammad Sangri was assassinated [on Friday], when my convoy was attacked,” Anwar told reporters after the incident. “The assailants hurled three hand grenades at us, two of which did not explode,” he added.

“The assailants tried to flee in a car and on motorcycles when policemen in my convoy retaliated with full force. We chased them down and managed to kill five of them in an encounter. Five more managed to escape,” he claimed.

Although they have yet to be identified, SSP Anwar suspected the attackers were members of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). DSP Sangri, his police guard and driver were killed on Friday in the Gulshan-e-Hadeed neighbourhood in an attack claimed by the TTP.

According to police officials, four hand grenades, two AK-47 assault rifles, seven pistols, a car and a motorcycle were recovered from the slain attackers. This is not the first time SSP Anwar has been targeted. The last attack on him took place in April 2012 when he was on his way for a meeting with a sessions judge regarding a probe into the murder of former Malir Bar Association president Salahuddin and his son. Five people were killed and 18 others injured in the suicide attack which took place in the Malir Halt area.

SSP Anwar and his team have killed more 100 suspected militants from different TTP factions since the Karachi operation began on September 5 last year.  He was removed from his post as SSP Malir on Thursday hours after he made serious allegations against the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in an explosive news conference.


Published in The Express Tribune, May 3^rd, 2015.