RAHIM YAR KHAN, June 9: Six activists of an outlawed sectarian organisation, allegedly involved in murder, robbery and sectarian terrorism cases, were arrested during a raid here on Friday.
Suicide-bombing gadgets and a number of weapons had been seized during the raid, District Police Officer Syed Ahsan Mahboob told a press conference.
The DPO said the police were informed about the presence of some terrorists in a suburban rural area, Basti Gamoon.
A police contingent, aided by the Elite Force, had raided Mohammad Shabaan Chachar’s house in the village and arrested Chachar, Abdul Hameed, Imdadullah Manak, Qari Muhammad Rafiq, Master Mohammad Nawaz and Javed Akhtar Dashti. Five other suspects managed to escape during the raid.
The police recovered explosives, a Kalashnikov rifle, four pistols, a revolver and a number of rounds and bullets.
In a confessional statement, the arrested men said that they belonged to Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and had been carrying out terrorist activities for a long time under Chachar’s leadership. They said they had planned to carry out an attack on Imam Shah Bokhari’s mausoleum in Mailsi during the previous Muharram but could not succeed because of strict security measures. They said they had made fresh plans to attack the mausoleum next Friday.
They said one of their gang members had been killed in a suicide attack on a seminary in Karachi near Nipa Chowrangi last year. They also confessed to having murdered a mausoleum custodian, Muhammad Taqi Shah of Khanpur.
They also said they had snatched Rs147,000 and a motorcycle from a Khanpur auqaf manager Mohammad Rafique Jatt weapons in 2004.
They said they had planned to kill some Shia teachers in Ahmedpur Sharqia (East) and Karachi.
