KARACHI: Police on Monday claimed to have arrested two suspected militants linked with the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

“The Steel Town police conducted a raid and arrested two suspects, identified as Saifullah alias Mohsin and Hazrat Bilal, belonging to the TTP’s Sajna group,” a police spokesperson said, adding: “They were trained in Afghanistan and joined TTP in 2013.”

The police claimed to have recovered arms, ammunition and hand-grenade as well as some other equipment from their custody.

During initial grilling, they disclosed that they used to collect extortion from Manghopir for TTP (Sajna group) ‘commander’ Fakhruddin alias Malang.

Suspect Mohsin ‘confessed’ that he had torched a Nato container in the Manghopir area in 2013. The container had developed some fault near Northern Bypass and it was taken to the Manghopir police station for security reasons where the suspect along with other accomplices set it on fire.

After this incident, the suspect had fled to the Shawal area in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where he carried out attacks on the army. He also said he recruited young men in district West, particularly Manghopir, for the TTP.

“The held suspects were involved in various incidents of extortion and robberies in Karachi,” said the police spokesperson.

Man found axed to death

A 30-year-old man was found brutally murdered in the city’s outskirts on Monday.

The Mochko police said that the body of Khalil Ahmed was recovered from main Hub River Road near Askari petrol pump. He was axed to death.

Meanwhile, the body of an unidentified man, in his 40s, was found in New Sabzi Mandi on Superhighway.

The body was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital to ascertain the exact cause of death.

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2021