KARACHI: The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) has launched a probe into the murder of two police officials and injury to the third one in an armed attack on their mobile van standing near Daud Mor in Dhoraji Colony on Saturday night in limits of New Town police.

CTD officials suspected involvement of the banned Islamic State or Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) behind the deadly attack, which occurred after a lull. They did not consider the claims made by two outlawed organisations Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LJ) and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA) as ‘credible’.

Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Iftikhar, 50, and head constable Raja Younus, 47, were shot dead while head constable Shahenshah, 45, sustained critical bullet wounds when the gunmen opened indiscriminate firing on them. The incident brought death toll of the policemen to five during the current year.

A New Town police officer said the two martyred policemen sustained one bullet each in their head while the injured, who was getting treatment in a private hospital, received multiple bullet injuries on his back and to the legs.

Same weapon

The CTD investigators collected 13 spent bullet casings of 9mm pistol and three empties of 30-bore pistol from the crime scene.

A police’s forensic laboratory reported that the 30-bore pistol was also used in the targeted killing of Ali Nawaz on Feb 21 this year in Gulistan-i-Jauhar in the limits of Sharea Faisal police, said CTD DIG Amir Farooqi.

The senior officer said Ali Nawaz was a PQR (Pakistan Qaumi Razakar), who was wearing police uniform at the time of the incident. The victim belonged to the Shia community, he added.

Claims of responsibility

About the reported claims of responsibility by two banned outfits, the CTD DIG said on late Saturday night that the outlawed LJ claimed responsibility while on Sunday morning, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA) also claimed the responsibility.But CTD official Raja Umer Khattab, who was probing the incident, said: “We are focusing on possible involvement of banned Islamic State or AQIS behind the double murder of the policemen,” said.

He said they did not consider the LJ spokesperson’s claim of responsibility as credible partly because such spokesperson tended to have claimed responsibility for several terror acts in recent past. Similarly, Mr Khattab said the JuA spokesperson had mentioned in his statement that they had killed two policemen and injured the third one ‘today morning’ meant Sunday morning, though the incident took place on Saturday night.

He believed that this was the first major terror act of the current year.

Mr Khattab, who along with the CTD team visited the crime scene on late Saturday night, said the victim policemen had parked their mobile in an area surrounded by darkness while there was also no CCTV footage available. There were more than one routes leading to the place where the incident took place.

He said the gunmen attacked the policemen simultaneously at two separate places as two policemen were sitting in the mobile while the third one was standing at a considerable distance, indicating the possibility that there might be more attackers than pillion riders.

Meanwhile, funeral prayer of head constable Raja Yunus was held at the police headquarters Garden, which was attended by IGP A.D. Khowaja and senior officials of the police and Rangers.

Funeral prayer of another martyred ASI Iftikhar was held at the police family quarters in New Town on Sunday morning. His body was sent to his native place in Faisalabad for burial.

Burial of Yunus might be held on Monday as his relatives were expected to arrive from Saudi Arabia, said the New Town police official.

The IG police announced Rs5 million and one job for the heirs of each victim and other benefits.Separately, Karachi AIG Mushtaq Ahmed Mahar announced Rs2.5 million for any information leading to the arrest of the culprits.

Red alert

The IG police had declared red alert across Sindh following the murder of two policemen in the city. Mr Khowaja also directed that two policemen on motorbike should accompany with each police mobile during patrolling or snap checking. The police chief also instructed that during patrolling or checking, wearing of helmets and bulletproof jackets must be ensured.

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2017