February 15, 2008	Friday	Safar 07, 1429

KARACHI, Feb 14: Two witnesses appeared before the court of Judicial Magistrate, South, Khwaja Ashraf Hussain on Thursday and identified an alleged activist of the banned Jundullah jihadi outfit, Qasim Toori, as the accused involved in the June 10, 2004 attack on the convey of the then crops commander Karachi, Lt-Gen Ahsan Saleem Hayat.

The witnesses, Ghulam Farooq, an army driver, and Umer Daraz, a passerby, identified the accused in an identification parade conducted in the court.

Qasim Toori, along with other co-accused, are facing the charges of carrying out the attack while the convoy was passing through the Clifton bridge. Eleven people were killed and another 12 injured in the ambush. The corps commander had escaped unhurt.

The case was registered at the Clifton police station and police launched a hunt for the suspects. While Toori was declared absconder, 10 other accused were tried by an anti-terrorism court and convicted. However, Toori and some other alleged criminals were arrested only on Jan 29, 2008 in the Shah Latif area of Bin Qasim Town when the police and other law-enforcement agencies laid a siege of a house on a tip off that criminals were hiding inside. The siege led to a long gun-battle which culminated in the surrender of Toori and some other suspects, besides some casualties on both sides.

Meanwhile, Judicial Magistrate, East, Maqbool Memon on Thursday adjourned the hearing of the cases, pertaining to bank robberies and murder, against Qasim Toori, Danish alias Talha and Abid. The adjournment was requested by the police who had failed to fulfill the requirements for the identification parade of the accused in these cases.

One of the three cases registered at the Ferozabad and Korangi police stations pertained to a bank robbery during which the bank’s security guard was killed.