KARACHI: The Malir police on Saturday evening claimed to have killed four suspected militants in an ‘encounter’ near Inara Garden, a residential complex of the Shia Ismaili community, off the Superhighway.
The officials added that the suspects belonging to the banned Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LJ) were allegedly involved in the killing of members of the Shia community and law enforcers.
The deadly encounter took place after contingents of the Malir police conducted a targeted raid near Safoora Goth on the information provided by militants, Naeem Bukhari and Farooq Bhatti alias Masna, whose arrest had been announced by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) director general Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa on Feb 12.
The police said the militants were accomplices of Naeem Bukhari and Farooq alias Masna.
Malir SSP Rao Mohammed Anwar said the police contingents while acting on the information surrounded a residential compound near Inara Garden. He recalled that it was the same place where 45 members of the Shia Ismaili community had been gunned down by militants in May last year.
On seeing the police laying siege to the building, the suspected militants opened fire on the law enforcers, said the officer.
In an ensuing encounter, four gunmen were killed, said the Malir SSP, adding that two of the deceased were identified as Noman Akhter and Sohail alias Kanga. “They belonged to the banned AQIS and LJ,” said the officer.
The police seized one Kalashnikov and three 9mm pistols from their custody.
The suspects were involved in the murder of traffic policemen, policemen besides sectarian killings, the officer said, adding that they were accomplices of Naeem Bukhari and Farooq alias Masna.
At the press conference last month, Lt Gen Bajwa had claimed that the security forces had arrested Naeem Bukhari and Farooq alias Masna and foiled their bid to storm the Hyderabad jail to get 100 hardcore militants, including Khalid Umer Sheikh who had been convicted in the Daniel Pearl murder case, freed.
On Feb 22, their 12 accomplices were gunned down in two encounters in the Pipri and Gadap areas.http://www.dawn.com/news/1243765/police-kill-four-aqis-lj-militants
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