E-Paper | July 18, 2026

Qaim announces arrest of killers behind Safoora Goth, Sabeen's murder

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KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah on Wednesday announced the arrest of terror suspects who had allegedly carried out the Safoora Goth massacre and the killing of T2F Director Sabeen Mahmud, DawnNews reported.

This revelation comes just a day after the chief minister announced the arrest of masterminds behind the Safoora Goth tragedy in Karachi.

Speaking to the press about the developments in recent target killing and terror attack investigations in Karachi, Shah lauded the efforts of the Sindh police saying they had unearthed a dangerous nexus of terrorists involved in various terror activities in the city.

Sindh chief minister said security authorities have arrested the alleged mastermind of Sabeen Maumud’s murder, named Saad Aziz, adding that the suspect is an engineering student from a reputable university.

He said that the alleged killers arrested after the Safoora Goth incident have confessed to the killing of social activist Sabeen Mahmud. This group was also involved in carrying out the attack on American professor Debra Lobo, Shah added.

The arrested suspects hold expertise in preaching terrorism to people, brainwash them and provide training to carry out terrorist activities, said the chief minister.

The arrested suspects have also admitted to carrying out attacks on police mobiles in Arambagh, M A Jinnah Road, Gulistan-i-Johar, North Nazimabad, North Karachi, Shah Faisal Colony and Landhi, he added.

Weapons were also recovered from the possession of alleged terrorists, which included three AK-47s, seven 9mm pistols, five grenades and a considerable quantity of explosive materials —laptops and terrorism related literature was also recovered.

Pakistan

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Gaz
May 20, 2015 07:41pm
Feels like the politicians are trying their best to show the police in a good light so they can claim credit and out do the military. Is it me or have these announcements just started after the recent meeting between PPP and PML-N
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Parvez
May 20, 2015 07:44pm
Great work.......hope they get punished.
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Humans
May 20, 2015 07:47pm
So finally the magic stick of Raheel worked and Sind Govt geared up. Weldone Sind Police.
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KALIRAJA THANGAMANI
May 20, 2015 07:50pm
Great, Government on the forefront in tackling terrorism. Good.
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I. Ahmed
May 20, 2015 07:56pm
And once the 'so-called' terrorists will go to the court after all the confessions we will find out they were not and by then, except for the affected families, we will all forget about these sagas. This CM, his interior minister and his police chief need to go for the process to have transparency and believable.
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ALI RAZA
May 20, 2015 07:57pm
I'm sure uts just a lie
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suman
May 20, 2015 08:04pm
This is very dangerous thing, even engineering students are involved in this terrorist activity. This is not only about terrorism but more about their distorted ideology. Find out their reference or source of ideology of hating, strike on it. Unless or until their ideology are not discussed and killed , we can't get rid of this terrorist.
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Shehz
May 20, 2015 08:05pm
When educated master degree holders or even an engineering student resorts to becoming hit-mans and paid assassins, it only means that unemployment with a bleak future prospect drove them in that direction out of desperation; this is a collective failure of all the governments over the past decades.
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Sher
May 20, 2015 08:10pm
Well Mr CM are these your words or you are just telling police story. Since our police is best at putting all the crimes on one caught suspect and that's what you are saying that all crimes in Karachi are done by this group. Its very very hard to believe your words. For God's sake don't lie in these very sensitive times because if your lie is caught then believe me people of Karachi won't spare you and your Party.
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citizen
May 20, 2015 08:11pm
Hard to believe..That means no more targeted killing in Karachi? Public knew well how these confessions are extracted...
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Ahmed
May 20, 2015 08:12pm
Hard to believe until full details are revealed in media along with video footage
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KeyPoints
May 20, 2015 08:13pm
Good work catching those criminals. Now take them to court, covict them, than hang them to send a clear message to other criminals. People of Karachi deserve to live in peace. About time, police do their job to earn their salary and make Karachi safe place for its residents. Thank you for good job.
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Warrior Bin Qasim
May 20, 2015 08:16pm
I simply do not believe Qaim Ali Shah's claim. This is just to cool down the victim's families and Military. My guess is this "Saad Aziz" character was already under arrest for some other petty issue and now being presented as "Mastermind". Sad part is some police officer will get rewarded a big amount for capturing this "petty thief". I for one do not buy this story for one bit!!!
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S Balu
May 20, 2015 08:17pm
How this suspect organise ? Who were behind the scene planner Said? Who were the payroll masters ? Who were people who trained the A? These people alone cannot just come up and do the killing surely There must be big organisation who influenced the group
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Ahmed
May 20, 2015 08:17pm
@KALIRAJA THANGAMANI@These are all gimmick and South Asian will keep suffering for centuries of their British legacy
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F.A.K.RAO
May 20, 2015 08:20pm
We appreciate the Karachi Police on arresting the killers of Safoora Goth and Sabeen Mahmood. Our police can do whatever is expected from them if they are forced to deliver by big one.
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Yawar
May 20, 2015 08:26pm
@Shehz it is not just unemployment that makes a terrorist, it is the venomous hate speeches that come out of the mouths and writings of the ones they admire
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M.Malik
May 20, 2015 08:27pm
"The arrested suspects have also admitted to carrying out attacks on police mobiles in Arambagh, M A Jinnah Road, Gulistan-i-Johar, North Nazimabad, North Karachi, Shah Faisal Colony and Landhi, he added." In other words, the same group was able to cause so much mayhem, for so long, around the city, and lack of good police intelligence failed to prevent the cranage - until now, if this is even true. Seeing is believing. Without pictures, I am highly skeptical!
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JUSTICE
May 20, 2015 08:31pm
My feelings Sind government is not telling truth about these suspect they arrested. Do you really think CM knows more than Karachi Rangers ?
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Taimoor Khan
May 20, 2015 08:36pm
What forces/nations are behind these people? Unearth them first Mr Chief Minister.
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Sunil
May 20, 2015 08:52pm
Hope its not a forced or tortured confession, to make sure, catching the right culprits.
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PHILOSOPHER
May 20, 2015 08:53pm
As usual public officers are beating around the bush.
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Masoud
May 20, 2015 09:01pm
Thinks dont come that easy, could the name or some clue also be passed on the satisfy the general public. Should the peoples believe that this is not an attempt to divert attention by the Sindh government.
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Zahir
May 20, 2015 09:07pm
Seems too good to be true
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shair khan
May 20, 2015 09:15pm
How many times the cm needs to announce this? What he needs to tell which political or religious group these people belong to? Why the secrecy?
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Haider Ali
May 20, 2015 09:17pm
In Pakistan, anything is possible. This could be a lie to show results. Even if these are actual criminals, how long till they finally get convicted? We have to take into account the death threats to eye witnesses, police, and judges. After they are convicted, how many will flee, get pardon by officials, etc? Sorry to be cynic, but this is Pakistan. Shame
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Blue Saffron
May 20, 2015 09:19pm
Why is it always after the fact when many innocent people are killed that our security people unearth these terrorists. Where are our intelligence people? It appears to me that unfriendly foreign countries have a more effective intelligence network in Pakistan than Pakistanis themselves!
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M Jamal
May 20, 2015 09:30pm
We are evil genius.In one shot we got the group of criminals arrested for all the past and present killings in Karachi. Now we can claim that we are the best.
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raheel
May 20, 2015 09:40pm
i have traveled all across pakistan and found sindh police worst in whole pakistan .
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Zia ur Rehman
May 20, 2015 09:45pm
Believe me this will be proven later on as a confounder to mislead real investigators away from the reality
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Syed
May 20, 2015 09:53pm
@Gaz Good work is good work, who did it does not matter.
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Asad
May 20, 2015 09:55pm
failed to understand how the masterminds can be caught without apprehension of executioners
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Rabia
May 20, 2015 09:59pm
This sounds a bit suspicious, don't you think? All those cases solved in one fell swoop. I'm not sure if I believe this. But then again the track record for truth is not too good.
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Asad
May 20, 2015 10:00pm
@Shehz no not hitmen rather ideology driven terrorists. Don't get surprised if their previous affiliation comes from a religious students organization that is the sole guardian of ideology. We all know that, don't we?
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optimist
May 20, 2015 10:03pm
How credible is this news.
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Pakistani
May 20, 2015 10:10pm
That is a big joke unless Mr. CM comes with credible proofs. Unfortunately our police is so skilled to get any kind of confession from even a dead person or statue. I can guarantee, Mr. CM will also confess for any crime which he has not committed (although that may be true). And it is easy to put all blames on extremist and ignore / hide real issues of our intelligence failures. What happened to his initial claim of RAW involvement, if both statement are true then Indian government is taken over by Islamist :)....
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M Akram
May 20, 2015 10:11pm
If true, this is a great success story for the security orgnisations. A quick and speedy trial for culprits and their minders and any supporters should be the order of the day. Let us get rid of evil from our midst and Pakistan for ever. May God Bless Pakistan and its noble defenders.
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Rehan
May 20, 2015 10:19pm
It appears to be lips service and photo ops at its best: - Where is the proof, i hope he is not relying on 'so-called' confession only? - What are the chain of events that lead to this arrest ? - What are the details of those who got arrested ? Where do they get arms from? - Where were they hiding all these times ?
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Sharif
May 20, 2015 10:25pm
Somehow the pattern of heinous murders carried out by the killers of Islamabad school children, killings in Quetta of bus travelers, and recent massacre of Ismaili bus occupants also remind us of bullet in the mouth killings in Model Town. The question arises whether there is a nexus of common mindsets to just create hatred and maximum chaos across all the communities of Pakistan? Hoping for a switch over in thinking of the facilitators of violence, switch over to peaceful Pakistan !
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Ghaznavi
May 20, 2015 10:29pm
@Shehz Don't be misled these Engineering students are most probably Quota System beneficiaries. They probably never belonged to the Engineering profession.
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Ahmed Awaiz
May 20, 2015 10:58pm
@I. Ahmed :most of those caught by police and agencies were indeed terrorists. In courts they orove their innocence snd when rekeased its back to terrorist ways. Lets support police for great work. Now prosecution smd judiciary need to do a good job and send then on one way ticket to hell.
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Sadiq Sajid
May 20, 2015 10:59pm
Good work by the Civilian Government.
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amir Ahmad
May 20, 2015 11:01pm
Great work. would you please let us know who is the so call Master mind. Please show the face.
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Not sure
May 20, 2015 11:06pm
Strange and very fishy.... somehow this seems too easy.
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Faisal
May 20, 2015 11:22pm
Why there are no faces, where are their families why they did not come out and told police about their sons activities Where is media ? Go and check what british media did after 7/7. Name and shame them and their relatives and friends If they did not acted to save so many lives surely they are with them too
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Patriot
May 20, 2015 11:44pm
I am curious, if the culprits are caught, it is important to know who paid them to murder innocent citizens. Secondly, where did they get indoctrinated. Third, my concern is, if they will be released due to lack of evidence. I am a shia, and I left my country because of my insecurity. If we could get rid of this menace, honestly,I want to come home.
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zamin
May 20, 2015 11:58pm
very sad that these people belonging to ismaili community were killed in the bus n am happy that culprits identified n arrested. hundreds of hazaras were killed. thousands of shias massacred all over Pakistan . zaireen from Iran and travellers to gilgit were massacred. no one has been apprehended . I wonder why? rather we should all wonder. the PM especially flew down to khi but he or his predecessor never went to quetta at the massacre of hazaras.
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muhibbewatan
May 20, 2015 11:59pm
Who wants to buy this from the CM? No sane person would like to believe much of this. The immediate focus is on calming the nerves of the public and leading them into complacency and false sense of security. Knowing how these terror outfits work, where are all the answers as to their "higher-ups" and mentors as well as their financiers? Nobody ever utters any hints in this regard.
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Danial
May 21, 2015 12:00am
I want proof. I don't trust anything the govt says
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AHSAN
May 21, 2015 12:07am
The competency level of Sindh police is well known. This seems to me a made up story in order to show police performance somewhere in powerful quarters. CM held the press conference with civilians around him. A signal transmitted somewhere you know.
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ilyas
May 21, 2015 12:12am
goes to show when our police and agencies mean business, they can anything and everything.
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Aurangzeb
May 21, 2015 12:18am
All the unsolved crimes are solved. Culprits are in custody. Job well done.
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Yaqoob
May 21, 2015 12:33am
It is preemptive measure against governor rule
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Imran
May 21, 2015 12:36am
I do not believe a word coming out of Sind government.
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AdHawk
May 21, 2015 12:46am
So the suspects confessed to the last three major incidents in the city. How convenient. Of course, in the hands of Sindh police a giraffe would confess he's a lion.
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all-is-equal
May 21, 2015 01:01am
@Yawar agreed. cannot blame unemployment, money, opportunities etc for everything and cover one's crime.
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CYRUS
May 21, 2015 01:02am
@KALIRAJA THANGAMANI In rugby you tackle the opponents before the reach the goal line.
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CYRUS
May 21, 2015 01:05am
@suman The young are taught to hate by their parents or mentors. It begins at home where "little pitchers have big ears".
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CYRUS
May 21, 2015 01:08am
@Shehz That is true. People blame the government in power, or the political party they love to hate.
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CYRUS
May 21, 2015 01:16am
@KeyPoints Point number one: The people of Karachi do deserve to live in peace and prosperity.
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CYRUS
May 21, 2015 01:21am
@Yawar You are right. Organized criminal mafias only kill people who are in their way. They don't kill civilians. Mafia types are smart enough to know they will be hunted to the last for killing a bus load of women. It is not good for business. The corollary of that statement is these killers don't think.
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CYRUS
May 21, 2015 01:27am
@F.A.K.RAO If they are backed up by the rangers the good police will step forward. They fear being murdered the bad police.
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CYRUS
May 21, 2015 01:29am
@Ahmed It is not the British "legacy", not the skin color, not the religion. The problem is behavior.
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CYRUS
May 21, 2015 01:36am
@M Jamal Now the people of Karachi can stop worrying!
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@sam
May 21, 2015 01:38am
face saving tactics..
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MMM
May 21, 2015 01:39am
@zamin I wouldnt be suprized if best intellignce experts were flown from different parts of the world to "help" the Sindh police also.
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M. Siddique
May 21, 2015 02:14am
Which political party did the suspects belong to? Or were they TTP criminals?
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DamaDum-Mastkalandar
May 21, 2015 02:15am
I don't trust these politicians, I wonder about these arrests.
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Rehan
May 21, 2015 02:17am
So let me get this straight. The goons you captured confessed 1) Safoora Massacre 2) Sabeen Murder 3) Debra Lobo Murder 4) Attack on police in Arambagh, MA Jinnah, Johar, North, Nazimabad, Shah Faisal and Landhi. Im confused here, cause I feel you caught a monkey and beat him black and blue to confess he's an elephant and his mom and dad were elephants too.
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Barooq
May 21, 2015 02:37am
@Shehz lol the IBA grad was the financier. Owned a restaurant man It was not money or unemployment which made them monsters. It was religious hate.
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Carlos
May 21, 2015 02:38am
I don't believe him a bit
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NT
May 21, 2015 05:03am
'Un'believable.
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Jawad
May 21, 2015 05:18am
His comments need to be authenticated by army. Simply put people dont believe in politicians any more.
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Muhammad Farooq
May 21, 2015 05:31am
Great job, we expect police will keep up high professional standard and protect the citizens.
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syed
May 21, 2015 05:52am
I am 100% sure that the real master minds behind these killings are those who got arrested. These are just the scape goats. Mr. CM, please get real. Tell your police to go after the real leaders of these pawns.
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Pramod from India
May 21, 2015 06:17am
Hope they are the real culprit and not just eyewash under pressure. If they are real culprit they should get harshest of punishment.
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sohail
May 21, 2015 08:07am
fake,fabricated. Why govt waiting if every fact is now known.
Recommend 0

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