February 28, 2008	Thursday	Safar 20 ,1429

KARACHI, Feb 27: Three men accused of involvement in the killing of seven workers of a Christian charity organisation were on Wednesday remanded into police custody until March 3 by civil and judicial magistrate South, Ashraf Hussain Khwaja.

According to the prosecution, whilst being interrogated for the earlier killing of a member of the Catholic community, the men confessed to the Sept 25, 2002, killing of seven workers of the Christian charity organisation Idara Aman-o-Insaf in their Rimpa Plaza office.

Asif alias Pasha, Mohammed Atif and Zubairuddin alias Sharjeel – stated to be members of the banned militant outfit, Tehreek-i-Islami Lashkar-i-Muhammadi – were arrested by the CID police on Feb 26 following a raid on their hideout in Akhtar Colony. The police recovered three pistols and a stolen motorcycle from the possession of the accused men.

At the time of the raid, the fugitives were already facing charges of killing the then chairman of the Catholic community, Mr Aven Adven, on May 22, 2002, through the administration of a poisonous injection within the limits of the Preedy police station. The case (FIR 87/02) had been registered against the accused under Section 302/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code at the Preedy police station by a relative of Mr Adven.

The prosecution said that during the course of interrogations after their arrest on Tuesday, the men also confessed to the Rimpa Plaza killings.