QUETTA: Omar Latif alias Luqman, said to be Al Qaeda’s chief for Balochistan and south Punjab, has been killed by Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) personnel in Chagai area close to the Afghan border.

This was stated by Balochistan Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Ahmed Bugti at a press conference here on Sunday. He said the man was killed when “ISI personnel carried out an operation on information about the presence of the Al Qaeda leader in the area”. His wife and two children were taken into custody.

Mr Bugti, who was accompanied at the press conference by Home Secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani, also confirmed the arrest in Quetta of a leader of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan who had been accused of being the mastermind of attacks on the army General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi and ISI offices in Sukkur.

He said that a brother of Omar Latif had escaped during the Chagai raid.

He said the slain militant’s wife Tayyiba alias Baji Fareeha headed the women’s wing of Al Qaeda in the region.

“The accused tried to use his wife and two children as human shield when law-enforcement personnel tried to arrest him,” the minister claimed, adding that he had fired at the personnel and was killed in the ensuing clash.

Omar Latif had shifted to Chagai from Afghanistan’s Nimruz province about 10 months ago and was living in a hideout near the border.

The minister said the Al Qaeda man’s sister Maria had been arrested in Punjab and was in Lahore jail. Her husband Suleman was also accused of working for Al Qaeda.

Mr Bugti said that Omar Latif was involved in attacking around a dozen police stations and other government institutions in central Punjab, including Gujranwala and Gujrat.

He said Al Qaeda had appointed the man, who belonged to south Punjab, to support and help activists of the group for launching terrorist attacks in Balochistan and along the Afghan border.

The Punjab government had announced the head money of Rs2 million for Omar Latif who was wanted in connection with various terrorist attacks in the province.

The Balochistan minister said Tayyiba was also involved in kidnapping for ransom and several cases of terrorism.

Replying to a question, the minister said ISI personnel had also arrested an important leader of the banned TTP during a raid on a house in Sarwar Town, near Jinnah Town.

According to a security official, he was the mastermind of attacks on the GHQ and the ISI headquarters in Sukkur.

The minister said the law and order situation in Balochistan had improved because of efforts of the ISI, Frontier Corps, police, Anti-Terrorism Force and Levies.

“It is a loud and clear message for terrorists that now there is no space for them in any area of Balochistan,” Mr Bugti said and warned that all such elements should give up their terrorist activities and join the mainstream.

According to AFP, the minister said Omar Latif’s brother Bilal had escaped, “probably to Afghanistan”, and the couple’s daughters, both aged under five, had been detained during the overnight raid.

He said the Punjab government had also set a Rs500,000 reward for the arrest of Tayyiba.

He said Omar Latif had set up an Al Qaeda network and was supervising its “terrorist activities and providing travel and logistical facilities to terrorists in both Balochistan and south Punjab as well as in Afghanistan”.

His wife is being interrogated by security officials.

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2015

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