KARACHI: A suspect linked with a banned terrorist, Sindhudesh Revolutionary Army (SRA) and planning a Saddar-like attack on a Chinese doctor in Hyderabad for which funding was provided by the outfit’s Germany-based leader was arrested in the city on Thursday, the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) claimed.

Acting on ‘credible’ information, the CTD with the help of a federal intelligence agency carried out an action near Kamran Chowrangi in Gulistan-i-Jauhar and apprehended a suspect, identified as Mohammed Afzal Loond alias Aafi, and seized from him a 30-bore pistol along with five rounds and one motorbike.

“The held suspect is associated with the Sindhudesh Liberation Army,” claimed a CTD spokesperson.

During interrogation, the suspect confessed that he had been in touch with SRA’s head Zulfiqar Khaskheli, who lives in Germany, he said. The SRA leader was providing financial assistance to them and he had purchased a motorbike and arms with this funding, the official said.

“Zulfiqar Khaskheli has given him (the held suspect) the target of killing a Chinese doctor through an attack on a dental clinic in Hyderabad,” claimed the CTD press statement.

“He had completed reconnaissance for the target before he was arrested.”

He was also an accomplice of suspected militants who had carried out a gun attack on the Hu Dental Clinic in the Saddar area of Karachi recently in which one dual national person was killed while a doctor of Chinese-origin and his wife were wounded.

“By arresting the SRA militant, the CTD has foiled a Saddar-like targeted attack on a Chinese doctor in Hyderabad,” said the CTD official, adding that a case had been registered against him and an investigation was started. More disclosures were expected in the interrogation, he added.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2022