September 27, 2008	Saturday	Ramazan 26, 1429

KARACHI, Sept 26: Three suspected terrorists and a man kidnapped by them more than four months ago were killed when police raided their hideout in Saeedabad on Friday morning. But, police succeeded in arresting the suspect for whom they had carried out the raid.

A senior police officer told Dawn the raid had been planned on the basis of information about the presence in the house of Ali Hasan alias Rahimullah alias Naeem, an activist of the defunct Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, who was wanted in cases relating to the murder of Allama Hasan Turabi, Nishtar Park bombing and attack on SP Raja Umar Khattab. It is learnt that the man was also involved in the kidnapping for ransom of Shaukat Afridi who was killed on Friday.

The raid was carried out by the CID police in cooperation with an intelligence agency, the officer said.

Police found the body of Shaukat Afridi who had been trussed up and shot in the head at point-blank range. But sources in the hospital where the body was taken said he had been shot in the chest.

He was a contractor supplying fuel oil to the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf). He was kidnapped on May 9 from Shahrah-e-Ghalib in Clifton.

Police at first claimed that the suspects had blown themselves up, but later Sindh Police Surgeon Dr Hamid Pariyar said that the four bodies bore bullet wounds but had no signs of injuries caused by an explosion.

However, Sindh Home Minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza said at a press conference that one of the suspects had killed the others before blowing up the house.

A senior police officer, who took part in the encounter, told Dawn that the shootout began at 7am after police personnel took up positions on adjoining buildings and placed an APC at a strategic location.

He said that police had initially cordoned off Sector 11 of Saeedabad and moved in after the suspects hurled grenades and overturned the APC. During the shootout, the suspects had hurled nine grenades and eight of them exploded.

However, the exchange of fire continued for about two hours after which the suspects ran out of ammunition and blew up the place.

Police found in the debris of the blown-up house a remote control used for locking vehicles which was possibly used by the suspects to detonate the bomb.

This correspondent visited the place and it was evident that the suspects had not been killed by the blast. What appeared more plausible was that they were either killed by police firing or, as suggested by the home minister, one of them had killed the others and then blew up the place. But this man too was not killed by the blast because all bodies had gunshot wounds.

A senior CID officer told Dawn that when the suspects realised that police had the upper hand, they shot Shaukat Afridi.

Ali Hasan was arrested without any injury. He is reported to have undergone training in Afghanistan and Waziristan and was a ‘close friend’ of Abid Mehsud, a close relative of Baitullah Mehsud.

One of the suspects who died in the shootout was later identified as Omar, younger brother of Saifullah an accused in the Nishtar Park case. A man who appeared to be Pakhtun was identified as Siddiq Mehsud, and a man who appeared to be a Bengali and believed to be a would-be suicide bomber was identified as Mufti Illyas.

Police found two suicide jackets, 10 kilograms of explosives, four pistols and two AK-47 assault rifles. Packets of nails and other items used to make suicide vests more lethal were also seized.

In December 2002, Asif Ramzi and his six of his colleagues were killed in similar circumstances in the Allahwallah Town in Korangi. However, there was no encounter and the house where they had stored explosives caved in after a blast that resulted in their deaths.