[DAWN] KARACHI - Five holy warriors of the recently formed Al-Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), including its Bloody Karachi...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
chief and deputy chief, were killed in an alleged encounter in Orangi Town in the early hours of Monday, according to police.
The officials claimed to have unearthed a bomb-making factory and seized a huge quantity of kaboom, three suicide jackets, laptop and some documents during the raid which was conducted on information about the alleged hideout of AQIS holy warriors in the Khairabad area.
The police said the suspects were involved in the suicide kaboom on Rangers officials at Qalandria Chowk in North Nazimabad last month and were planning further attacks on security agencies.
The documents, laptop and other material found at the hideout helped the police in identification of the jacket wallah, a 20-year-old Bengali, who had attacked the Rangers personnel, said DIG of the Counter-Terrorism Department Mohammed Arif Hanif.
"The bomber, identified as Arif alias Wahaj, happened to be the student of one of the biggest seminaries in the metropolis," the DIG said.
Sharing details of the raid with the media during a presser at the CTD Civil Lines office, the officer said that when a police team headed by CTD official Raja Umer Khattab conducted the targeted raid, the suspects tried to flee by resorting to firing and attacking the armoured personnel carrier of police with hand grenades.
"The CTD team and Special Security Unit commandos encircled the Lion of Islams. In an ensuing exchange of intense fire, five holy warriors were killed," said DIG Hanif.
He said the dear departed were identified as Karachi AQIS head Noor-ul-Hasan alias Hashim alias Bhai Jan alias Babu Bhai, his deputy Usman alias Irfan alias Abdullah, and Ibrahim alias Rafiq alias Awais.
The CTD chief said the identity of the two other suspects could not be ascertained immediately, but the police had reason to believe that they were 'suicide bombers'. They had come from the Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
province of Afghanistan just two months ago, according to CTD official Khattab.
"The laptop and other documents seized from the bomb-making factory revealed many things," he said. One of the findings was that the cycle of violence used in the March 2 attack on the Rangers had been prepared there, he added. Then "a video of the suicide bomber recorded before the attack was also seized," he said.
The suicide bomber, Arif alias Wahaj, was a resident of Bilal Colony, Korangi, and a student of a prominent seminary, said the CTD chief without disclosing its name.
Profile
According to the officer, the Karachi chief of the AQIS was an expert in preparing bomb-laden two- and four-wheelers. He had been associated with different 'Jihadi organizations' since 1999. Due to these credentials, he had been made the head of the AQIS in Karachi.
It was Noor-ul-Hasan alias Hashim alias Bhai Jan alias Babu Bhai, who had prepared the bomb-laden cycle of violence, which was used in the attack on the Rangers.The CTD chief said the AQIS had been established by Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-
Zawahiri... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as
the real brains of the outfit.Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is...
who had appointed Asim Umer, a former Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain commander, its first chief. It took Al-Qaeda two years to set up AQIS in which members of all Jihadi organizations were recruited. At present, holy warriors of Harkat-ul-Mujahidin Al-Almi were leading AQIS in Karachi, according the CTD. They had assumed the AQIS leadership after being 'released' from prisons where they had remained incarcerated for 'years'.
"The AQIS has focussed on recruiting Burmis and Bengalis for carrying out terror attacks," believed the CTD officer who has extensive experience in dealing with terror cases.
The group had also been involved in terror attacks on police and paramilitary force including the Feb 4 kaboom on Rangers personnel near DC West office, attacks on police vans in Korangi and Ibrahim Hyderi, and an attack on a police post in Bilal Colony, killing of a political party worker Khurshid Pathan, murder of a policeman Abdul Razzaq, Siraj Bihari, Alam Muchhar and Syed Zakir Shah.
DIG Hanif said the police also seized a 'target list' from the hideout, indicating that their next targets were personnel of security agencies, Rangers and police.
The CTD chief said it was the AQIS that had grabbed credit of the botched terror attack on Dockyard in September 2014.
Soon after the launch of Operation Zarb-e-Azab, AQIS relocated from Wazoo to Helmand province.
"AQIS
CTD official Khattab told Dawn that the AQIS had done a recce from Malir Halt to airport to Toll Plaza to target Rangers, police and others. "Their network also existed in the University of Karachi," he said, while referring to some clues retrieved from the laptop.
The suicide bomber in the Rangers attack case was a Bengali-speaking youngster, who had been handed over to the AQIS in Helmand, Mr Khattab said, adding that a card found from the hideout showed that he had remained a student of the Karachi seminary.