KARACHI: The Counter-Terrorism Department of police on Saturday claimed to have killed a Jundullah militant who had recently returned from Balochistan to revive and “revamp” the banned outfit to carry out terror attacks in the city and to free the detained wife of another militant.

Fazlur Rehman, alias Mufti, an “expert” in preparing suicide jackets, cement block bombs and fitting explosive material with motorbike, was said to be involved in kidnapping for ransom, bomb explosions outside some Imambargahs in Orangi Town, and motorbike-bomb attacks on SSU police bus in Quaidabad and an army bus in Baldia Town.

The militant was wounded and arrested in an encounter with a CTD team during a targeted raid in the Mauripur area, officials said. Five hand grenades, a motorbike and a 9mm pistol were seized from his possession, they said. He was being shifted to a hospital when he died, they added.

The raid was conducted on a tip-off about the presence of Jundullah militants in the area, they said, explaining that the group, led by one Saqib alias Anjum alias Arif, was also involved in armed bank robberies in the city to generate funds for Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan militants in Waziristan.

“After the killing of seven Jundullah militants by the paramilitary force in Orangi’s Mominabad area last year, other members of the outfit had fled to Wadh, Balochistan, where they established their set-up,” said CTD chief Additional IG Dr Sanaullah Abbasi.

Along with other militants, Fazlur Rehman alias Mufti lived in the hilly area of Wadh for around seven months before visiting Chaman and Afghanistan where he stayed for a month, said the CTD chief.

The militant had recently returned to “revamp” Jundullah in Karachi to carry out terror activities, said Dr Abbasi while sharing the information collected about the activities of the banned outfit.

He said the Mufti along with his accomplices was planning a terror attack at the City Courts to free the detained wife of another Jundullah militant, Khalil Mansoor, from police custody.The CTD chief said the police investigating the suicide attack on Inspector Shafiq Tanoli and others had found footprints of the same Jundullah group that had been involved in bank robberies and kidnap for ransom cases. According to the police, the militants had generated more than Rs16 million by looting Rs2.5m from Microfinance Bank in Rasheedabad, Rs2.2m from a bank in Zia Colony, and by collecting Rs12m ransom to release the kidnapped son of a local ANP leader in Mominabad and a boy belonging to an Ahmadi family. Referring to the Inspector Shafiq Tanoli case, the CTD chief said the suicide bomber had stayed for 15 days in a Mominabad home before attacking the police official along with three other people in the old Sabzi Mandi area in 2014.

Published in Dawn September 4th, 2016