September 27, 2008	Saturday	Ramazan 26, 1429

KARACHI, Sept 26: The residents of Saeedabad, Sector 11, woke up on Friday morning by the ominous rattle of gunfire and found afterwards that an inconspicuously small house in their locality was actually inhabited by alleged militants who not only stockpiled weapons and explosives but also kept a kidnap victim.

The shootout that continued for three hours wrecked the sleepy calm of the locality. The house where the gun-battle took place on Friday morning is near the Mochko police station.

“I don’t live here but the sound of a huge blast caught my attention and I came from Mawach Goth,” said Rehman Baloch who was keenly looking at the devastation wrought on the ramshackle house by an explosion and an exchange of fire between the alleged militants and law-enforcement agency personnel.

Another onlooker, who said he lived in the neighbourhood, said the residents were surprised by the fact that some people were living in the house – and actually holding a kidnap victim there – without being noticed or attracting attention in any way. Another resident said nobody had seen anybody go in or come out of the house that was the scene of a gruesome shootout on Friday morning.

The gun-battle and the subsequent blast left three alleged militants and one kidnap victim dead.

The kidnap victim was later identified as Shaukat Afridi, who had been kidnapped by three unknown persons in May 2008 in an area near Dr Ziauddin Hospital in Clifton.

Police seized 10 kilos of explosives, Jihadi literature, packets of five-inch nails, a suicide jacket, five pistols and two AK-47 assault rifles at the house.

Street children and some locals were seen scavenging through the debris of the collapsed house for some valuable objects hours after the shootout.

In an open portion of the house some construction material had been dumped by the alleged militants. The house comprised two to three rooms which collapsed under the impact on the explosion.

There were bullet holes in the house’s small gate and the outside walls.

Shaukat Afridi

Police sources told Dawn that Shaukat Afridi, 35, was one of the main contractors supplying fuel to ISAF forces in Afghanistan. He had been kidnapped from Sharah-i-Ghalib near Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Hospital on May 9, 2008.

Mr Afridi was travelling in his Liana car when he was intercepted by three unknown persons travelling in a blue Alto. They took him away at gunpoint, leaving behind his vehicle at the crime-scene.

Subsequently, the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee and the Anti-Violence Crime Cell were informed about the kidnap incident. An FIR (158/2008) was lodged at the Boat Basin police station. The victim’s family received a first ransom call on May 15, making a demand of $5 million.

However, as the negotiations continued between the family and the kidnappers, the ransom was subsequently reduced to Rs7 million.

Investigators said that that 90 per cent of the ransom calls had been made from a Radio Base Station (RBS) located in Kurram Agency. Similarly, calls had also been made from Afghanistan, though some calls were also made from Peshawar, they said.

The Peshawar police also tried to locate the victim but failed in their efforts.

A senior police officer associated with the Friday morning raid in Saeedabad told Dawn that it appeared that the suspects, hiding in the house, thought that the police had learnt about the fact that Mr Afridi was being kept at the house. They apparently shot him first at point-blank range in the head.

Mr Afridi was handcuffed and his legs were tied.

It was because Mr Afridi’s body was found trussed-up that police concluded that he must have been a kidnap victim. His identity was established afterwards.

However, the grieving family of the kidnap victim took away his body from the Civil Hospital without a post-mortem examination. The bereaved family was said to be so agitated that some members were willing to set on fire the bodies of the suspects.