Mastermind of Safoora carnage received funding from IS: JIT report

The group was receiving funds from countries including Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia

KARACHI: A joint interrogation team (JIT) report on the mastermind of the deadliest attack on the Ismaili community in the metropolis, the Safoora carnage, revealed that the group was receiving funding from the Islamic State (IS) also known as Da’esh.

The JIT report on the mastermind, Tahir Hussain Minhas, who established his own group linked with Da’esh, revealed that the group was receiving funds from different countries, including Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. "The group has remained in touch with IS," said an official privy to the matter. "This group comprised at least 53 members, who previously belonged to different militant outfits, including Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and alQaeda."

Minhas revealed that Abdullah Bin Yousuf alias Abdul Aziz alias Saqib is the chief of IS in Pakistan, while Omar Afzal alias Jawad is the alQaeda Sindh chapter chief, adding that Abdullah Bin Yousuf is leading the group in Pakistan.

Read: Police chief says Islamic State active in Sindh

The report further revealed that Abdullah Mansoori and Mistari Pathan hailed from Dera Ismail Khan while Tayyab and Ali Rehman, who are qualified engineers, belonged to Karachi.

Earlier, on Monday, Sindh IG Ghulam Hyder Jamali, while briefing a parliamentary panel, said that the IS group was active in the province and that the ultra-extremist Middle Eastern group had links with the banned sectarian militant outfit, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. He had said that investigations into the Safoora carnage revealed that Abdul Aziz, the kingpin of the group, had escaped to Syria and was involved in almost all the recent terror attacks along with his lieutenant, Azhar Minhas.

Read: 'Islamic State' militants claim attack on Pak-Afghan border

Another such report suggests that nearly 10 banned militant outfits are operating in the city. These are Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistan, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Tehreek-e-Taliban Swat, Tehreek-e-Taliban Mohmand, Tehreek-e-Taliban Shaheryar, al-Qaeda, Jamaatul Ahrar, Jundullah and Foreign Militant Organisation. These militant organisations are being operated by 66 commanders and each commander's group comprises five to six members.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 14^th, 2015.