THE death of three Rangers in the terrorist attack in Karachi on Friday indicates the presence of Al Qaeda or its deadly affiliates in the nation's biggest city as well as the militants' success in developing new and sophisticated killing techniques. While the police are not yet sure whether the Safoora Chowrangi terrorists belonged to Jundullah — not to be confused with the Iranian Baloch group — they say there is a pattern to how the militant organisation has of late been striking in Karachi. There was no suicide bomber in the Friday morning attack; it was a uni-directional improvised explosive device which killed the Rangers in what is reportedly the eighth attack of its nature in Karachi. Previously too, Jundullah used this technique with deadly effect in attacks on navy buses in Karachi. On Friday, the terrorists had chosen their target after carefully observing how, where and when the Rangers parked their van. The killers placed the IED near a garbage dump to camouflage it. Even though the van was parked a little away from the usual place, the IED, laced with nails and bolts, blew up in the direction of the vehicle and killed or injured the Rangers.

That the security agencies have had some progress in going after Al Qaeda is evident from the acknowledgment by the Global Islamic Media Front, a jihadist website, that Moeed Abd al-Salam, the man killed in a raid by Pakistan Rangers on a hideout in Gulistan-i-Jauhar in November, was one of its founders. Friday's murders could be a retaliatory response. Al Qaeda and its various affiliate groups have often used Karachi as a base. The authorities' failure to penetrate these sleeper cells has enabled Al Qaeda, whose leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has declared war on Pakistan, to carry out well-planned and daring raids on military targets with telling effect. The audacious raid on PNS Mehran last May would not have been possible without, one, cooperation from sympathisers within the security establishment and, two, an undercover system of training, funding and planning operations. It is this well-organised clandestine structure that needs to be unearthed and destroyed.