The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of the Police on Thursday announced to have arrested five men — allegedly workers of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) — over charges of killing 20 people including five policemen.

Addressing a press conference, CTD Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Munir Ahmed Shaikh said the police arrested the suspects from Korangi area after an "encounter".

The held suspects were identified as Muhammad Rizwan, a serving policeman, Muhammad Kamran alias Munna, Muhammad Kamran alias Maulana, Faheem Lodhi and Adnan Shaikh.

According to the SSP, Rizwan was recruited on recommendation of the "MQM setup."

Shaikh alleged that Rizwan had remained involved in target killings of the policemen before and after his recruitment.

“They carried out targeted killings of workers of MQM, MQM-H and Awami National Party and policemen on directions of the party’s South Africa set up,” the SSP claimed.

He pointed out that during the initial investigation, the held suspects "confessed" to killing their colleagues in the party "on directions of the South Africa setup, as the victims were considered harmful for the party."

According to the SSP, the men had also planned to kill more workers of the MQM for similar reasons.

Discussing the details of activities of the arrested men, SPP Shaikh claimed that the suspects allegedly attacked a police mobile in Korangi’s Zaman Town area and gunned down four policemen in 2015.

He added that in 2009 the suspects also allegedly gunned down assistant sub-inspector Haji Nadeem in Korangi-5 area, as the victim had taken part in the Karachi operation of 1992.

The police claimed to have seized five pistols from the suspects' custody as well.