Counter-terror experts give no credence to LEJ-A claim of Quetta police academy assault

Naimat Khan

KARACHI: Counter-terrorism experts have rejected Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) Al-Almi’s claim of carrying out the Quetta police training academy attack, saying the banned outfit’s assertion meant for a mere re-branding.

The claim by Al-Almi, an offshoot of the LeJ – a Sunni sectarian outfit with its origins in Punjab – has not been established so far, says Raja Umar Khattab, a senior counter-terrorism official in Karachi, revealing that the claim by Afghanistan-based IS-Khurasan could be substantiated through evidences the outfit has provided with its claim on Tuesday. “Both organisations are, however, being operated from Afghanistan currently.”

Over 60 police cadets were killed when three heavily-armed militants wearing suicide vests stormed the police training centre on the outskirt of the capital city of Balochistan on October 24.

Interestingly, both the proscribed groups, Islamic State and Al-Almi, claimed responsibility with the latter saying it was assisting the Khurasan branch of the Middle Eastern terrorist organisation. IG Frontier Corps Major-General Sher Afgun said calls intercepted between the attackers and their handlers suggested they were from the LeJ.

“We came to know from the communication intercepts that there were three militants who were getting instructions from Afghanistan,” Afgun told reporters, adding, “The Al-Alami faction of LeJ was behind the attack.”

Read More: Elimination of Malik Ishaq no fatal blow to sectarian killings

The Islamic State’s Amaq news agency published the claim of responsibility, saying three IS fighters “used machine guns and grenades, and then blew up their explosive vests in the crowd”. A teenage attacker killed by security forces can be seen in IS media release, supporting the IS-Khurran’s claim.

“The calls may definitely be from Afghanistan as both the IS and LeJ Al-Almi are being operated from other side of the border,” the police official said. “Though LeJ and Al-Almi claimed the responsibility, the one IS-Khurasan with evidently true claim hasn’t mentioned any assistance from the sectarian outfit,” Khattab told The Frontier Post.

This is not the first terror act with multiple claims. In August, Quetta hospital was attacked that left 70 people, mostly lawyers, dead was claimed by the IS, and also by the banned Pakistani Taliban faction, Jamaatur Ahrar. However, according to Balochistan Chief Minister Sanaullah Zehri, India’s premier spy agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), was involved in the attack.

Though, Al-Alami earlier claimed responsibility for the targeted assassinations of four women of the Hazara Shia community in the provincial capital and the attack on a Shia Imambargah in Karachi, experts believe that the trend of attacking Shia community and law enforcement agencies by IS has emerged, without any role of the LeJ.

“Currently, several terrorist outfits, including IS, AQIS and TTP are found involved in sectarian-driven bloodletting,” the official said.

According to the police official, LeJ has the capability of target killing but it doesn’t seem to be capable of carrying out major terror attacks. “Lashkar-e-Jhangvi was formed in 2004 by Abid Mehsud, a mastermind of Hasan Turabi murder, but the group has never excelled.”

Currently, Yousuf Mansoor is running the organisation from Afghanistan whereas its Sindh chapter’s head, Safdar alias Abu Sufian, who is also the outfit’s spokesperson, is admitting most of the terror acts to remain in the news for attracting youths with militant and sectarian tendencies.

“The organisation’s claims haven’t been verified,” Khattab told this scribe, adding that the group has been unable to establish its own camp inside Pakistan or Afghanistan and has been sending its members to camps of other terrorist outfits.

According to security experts, the Al-Alami’s mother organisation, LeJ, has almost become dysfunctional after two of its most notorious leaders, i.e. Malik Ishaq, the chief of the terror outfit, and Usman Saifullah Kurd, the head of its Balochistan chapter, were killed in encounters with law enforcers.

Moreover, Hafiz Naeem Bukhari, the head of LeJ’s Karachi chapter; Asif Chotu, the commander from southern Punjab, and Qari Ramzan Mengal, the Quetta-chapter head, are in jail.

Read More: Writing on the wall

Reports suggested that the killings and arrests of its top leadership have hampered LeJ’s operational capabilities and dented its organisational infrastructure. “LeJ has never claimed responsibility,” the official added.

Meanwhile, Balochistan government on Wednesday formed an investigation team to probe into the Quetta carnage. “The support of Punjab’s forensic agency will also be sought,” Deputy IG Quetta Abdul Razzaq Cheema said. The team will visit the incident cite, speak to survivors and present its report soon, added Cheema.

Published in The Frontier Post

Karachi’s top bomb-maker is dead

Counterterrorism Department deals major blow to Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent 

By: Naimat Khan

On April 13, the Counter Terrorism Department of Karachi killed two members of Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) in a gunfight in the Gadap Town locality, and seized weapons, explosives and equipment from a bomb factory that they unearthed.  Abdul Saboor and Muhammad Mujtaba died during the encounter, while Muhammad Murtaza was arrested.

During interrogation, Murtaza made some startling revelations.

“About 14 years ago, some militants from the Nazimabad neighborhood of Karachi parted ways with their organization Harkatul Mujahideen following a dispute. They renamed themselves Harkatul Mujahideen al Alami (HUMA), and orchestrated attacks on security forces, diplomatic missions and other targets of global importance,” according to Raja Umar Khattab, a senior cop fighting militancy and terrorism for more than 15 years.

In 2004, HUMA militants rented a shop in an apartment building in the city, and parked a van packed with 400 kilograms of explosives outside the premises to target the convoy of then president Gen Pervez Musharraf. The bomb couldn’t go off because of signal jammers, and the convoy passed safely.

It was the first group to use toy bombs

“The failed plan went unnoticed. The same van was later used in an attack on the American consulate in Karachi,” Raja Umar Khattab told me. The same year, the group orchestrated a bomb attack on a concert by the Indian vocalist Sonu Nigam in the port city. Then, they tried to target Americans staying at the airport hotel in a rocket attack, but the rockets went wayward and fell in Shah Faisal Colony.

HUMA was the first group to come up with toy bombs. The first such device was seized after an encounter with the police in the Kalakot area of the city.

By the end of 2008, most of the members of the group had been apprehended, and their plan to break Karachi’s central prison had been thwarted.

But because of weak prosecution and a lack of evidence, many of these militants were freed. Most of them fled to Afghanistan, where the group’s first chief Muhammad Imran, also known as Imran Bhai, was killed in a US drone strike.

Kamran Atif, the chief of the group’s Karachi chapter, was arrested in 2006 and served a life sentence.

In 2014, the militants associated with HUMA joined the AQIS en masse and took over its Pakistan branch. Their first emir is identified as Zarar, and also known by the names Naseem Bhai, Hanif Bhai and Ayub Bhai. He is stationed in Afghanistan, from where he directs the organization’s Pakistani and Bangladeshi chapters. “HUMA is the face of AQIS in Pakistan,” said Raja Umar Khattab.

Recent acts of terrorism in Karachi linked to the group include the murder of Dr Shakeel Auj and Urdu Blogger Aneeqa Naz, police say.

The AQIS Pakistan has three major wings, investigations have revealed.

One group, responsible for preaching, brainwashing and recruitment, consists of young people who have never been arrested and live normal lives at their homes in Karachi. They are hard to catch, police say, but stopping them is vital for eliminating the terrorist organization.

A second wing participates in militant activity. Most of its members are locals of Karachi, and people of Bengali and Burmese descent who have been born in the city.

The third wing consists solely of experts in manufacturing and planting bombs. Among its key members were a man identified as Hashim (nicknamed Babu) and another militant identified as Muhammad Mujtaba (also known as Rehan). The two men had arrived in Karachi as explosives experts for the group. Hashim, who had 14 years of experience in bombs and explosives, especially car bombs, was killed in a gunfight with police in April last year. Mujtaba – who had put together the bomb manufacturing setup in Gadap town and supplied explosive devices to one Abdus Salam Sindhi of the Liaquatabad neighborhood – was killed in the April 13 encounter.

In January 2016, the group resumed its activities using low-intensity bombs, referred to as crackers. Law enforcement agencies began to notice similarities between various blasts, and investigations led them to the two men killed on April 13.

The AQIS is a distinct organization, separate from another Al Qaeda group in Karachi, and the group of young militants in Karachi who are inspired by ISIS, according to Raja Umar Khattab.

An independent Al Qaeda group led by Umar Jalal began its own journey about the time AQIS was formed. A third IS-inspired group of youth, which attacked American professor Debra Lobo, killed human rights activists Sabeen Mahmud, and carried out the Safoora bus shooting, is a separate entity.

The AQIS is directed by Al Qaeda’s central leadership from Afghanistan’s Bramcha area, according to police. But heightened security at the border has made it very difficult, if not impossible, for the network in Karachi to communicate with the Bramcha leadership, Raja Umar Khattab said. “They are now using memory cards, USB flash drives, and unsent draft emails for passing on messages to the network in Karachi,” the arrested man told the investigators. Police believes the killing of Mujtaba is a major breakthrough, but analysts say it may not be enough to eliminate the group.

“To counter transitional militants, such as those involved with the AQIS, the government should form a serious counterterrorism strategy,” says Zia Ur Rehman, a Karachi based author and security analyst. “Identifying and distinguishing such militants is a proper intelligence-gathering exercise, which need strong collaboration among all law enforcement and intelligence agencies.”

For decades, groups like Harkatul Mujahideen have been allowed to change their names and reconstitute themselves, without any reprisal from the government, experts say, and that is where the problem lies.

“As they reconstitute, they look for new friends and allies. Al Qaeda and IS are the easiest choices in today’s plethora of militant groups,” says Khalid Muhammad, the director general of Islamabad-based think tank CommandEleven.

He says weak prosecution is another problem. Tahir Mihnas, the prime suspect of the Safoora carnage, and almost all the current leaders of AQIS including its Pakistani chief, were arrested in the past but have come out of jails.

“A report issued by the US State Department a few years ago discussed this exact issue – the release of hardcore terrorists from Pakistani jails,” says Khalid Muhammad. The report stated that Pakistan’s judiciary had released three out of four terrorism suspects that were brought to courts. “The reasons included loss of evidence, intimidation of witnesses, and fear of violence against the judge and his family.”

Zia Ur Rehman says it is hard to predict if military courts will solve these problems. “Only time will tell.”

 Published in The Friday Times 

HuT forms militant wing

 

By: Naimat Khan

KARACHI: Hizb-ut-Tahrir – a global movement for the establishment of worldwide Caliphate – has formed a militant wing in Pakistan, sources said.

According credible sources, the group has formed a separate wing for carrying out terrorist attacks. A police official, on the condition of anonymity, told this scribe that detained members of the group have made this startling revelation.

The wing was formed after an unannounced crackdown against the group’s members, who were unhappy with the group narratives of bringing change through ‘positive’ impact from within the power corridors.

“It’s unclear whether the militant wing of HuT is enjoying the endorsement from its international leadership or it’s locally formed. It’s also not clear whether the wing has been formed by some disgruntled leaders and workers without local approval as well but they [ detained suspects] have told interrogators a group has opted for change through guns”, source told.

“Law enforcement agencies are trying to substantiate the claim of two parallel organizations with Hizb-ut-Tahrir, which strives for ‘change through mind’ without resorting to violence,” source said.

The claim couldn’t be verified from the HT due to ban on coverage of proscribed organizations in Pakistan. However, the development has come to fore when according to sources a joint intelligence work between Pakistan and UK is supposed to be kicked off. Some believe that intelligence agencies of both countries are already working on averting terrorism threat from the group, which is legitimate for UK but banned in Pakistan.

A report published in this daily last month stated the group’s member were exposed to militants organization, including Islamic State (IS) to join their ranks.

“We want to replace the current ‘prohibited’ system of western democracy with Islamic Caliphate,” Pakistan head of HuT Naveed Butt, told this scribe during an interview in Karachi, weeks before his ‘alleged disappearance’ in mid of 2012.

Also read: For the revival of the caliphate

Butt, who was also the outfit’s spokesperson in Pakistan, said the current system, which has popular mass support will be replaced through a ““change of minds, especially of those who have a say in country affairs.”

We don’t subscribe to the views of the Taliban, he said, adding the organisation was working on the “powerful” of the country.

Founded in 1953 as a Sunni Muslim organisation in Jerusalem by Taqiuddin al-Nabhani, an Islamic scholar and a judge, over the years, HuT has spread to more than 50 countries, particularly the United Kingdom, Arab and Central Asian states, with an estimated one million members.

In Pakistan, the HuT was proscribed by former military dictator General (R) Parvez Musharraf in 2004. It is still among the list of banned outfits.

The HuT had a soft corner for Pakistan’s security establishment but turned critical when the military media wing, the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), confirmed on August 2, 2012 Brigadier Ali Khan, Major Inayat Aziz, Major Iftikhar, Major Sohail Akbar and Major Jawad Baseer were facing charges for having links with the banned outfit.

Many HuT activists off the record have confessed that Brigadier Khan, among others were products of the ‘change of minds’ narrative.

Though HuT’s activities were never open, it somehow interacted with important circles, which came to an end after the conviction of Brigadier Khan and the disappearance of Butt. Law enforcers apprehended a number of outfit’s activists in the following days.

The proscribed organisation claims several of its activists have been arrested despite the claim that their movement for implementation of Shariah was “never violent”. Recently, police authorities disclosed the arrest of two of its senior members.

On Tuesday October 6, 2015, police told media they had arrested an engineering and business graduate, Ovais Raheel from the city’s Boat Basin area. The suspect, police claimed, was targeting educated youngsters in the Defence and Clifton areas to use them “for illegal activities” with a view to implementing “Caliphate” in the country.

“The suspect has been arrested under Section 11EEEE (1) of the Anti-Terrorism Act,” Mazhar Mashwani of the Counter-Terrorism Department told media during a press conference. The suspect’s wife claims her husband is innocent.

Later on Friday, November 27, 2015, CTD claimed to have arrested the HuT’s Karachi chief, Hisam Qamar. The suspect, police said, was working in K-Electric as a deputy general manager.

Fifteen days before the police disclosed his arrest, Hisam family held a news conference at Karachi Press Club, claiming he was ‘abducted’ by LEAs a few days ago.

Besides arrests for distributing pamphlets in favour of the militant group, wall chalking related to IS has appeared in Quetta and Lahore. Lahore police claims it was done by Hizb activists.

Army General Raheel Sharif, who reportedly sought British government’s help against the outlawed HuT during UK visit in January last year, has also time and again said “not even a shadow of Daesh” will be tolerated in Pakistan. Similar stance has been conveyed by the country’s Foreign Office.

“Though no proper connection between the two has been established, workers of HuT remain vulnerable to IS, which has the same goal but through the use of force,” says Muhammad Amir Rana, security analyst, who is also a director of the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) in Islamabad.

Published in The Frontier Post

Abandoned by families, youths become vulnerable to terrorist inclinations

Alienated Youths vulnerable to terrorist inclinations, say experts 

KARACHI: Although the youth’s growing inclination towards extremism and terrorism is widely believed to have a direct link with hate literature and poverty, at least three young men from Karachi have had other reasons, which pushed them towards radicalization.

“The letters written by Saad Aziz, a former IBA graduate and prime suspect in Safoora Goth massacre and Sabeen Mahmud murder case, reveal the fragile relationship he had with his family members, which led him, closer to the militants,” says Raja Umar Khattab, a senior counter-terrorism officer who unearthed a group of highly educated terrorists in the city.

As if Saad’s breakup with his girlfriend was not enough, his sister’s continuous squabbles, and apathetic behaviour of his mother further alienated him, thus becoming vulnerable for the terrorists to enfold him in their circle, adds Khattab.

According to Aziz’s writings, his father had no or little say during family fights, and he was getting disillusioned by the day. There was no one to listen to his point of view, he told investigators.

Aziz, during interrogation, confessed to have killed Mahmud – director of popular cafe – the Second Floor Café (T2f) – in city’s Defence area.

But Aziz is not the only case highlighting how important family bonds are to keep the youths away from extremist inclinations.

On October 11, Karachi police held two men – Bilal Rind and Zain Shahid after the latter’s failed attempt to fly to Turkey and then Syria to join the Islamic State – in their fight against Bashar Al Assad – the Syrian ruler.

Police say there is no local presence of IS, and both the men were recruited through Twitter. Both, recruited separately, were introduced to each other before they left for Iran with a human trafficker.

Shahid and Rind were arrested in a remote Iranian town along the Turkish border. They were later deported by Iran and handed over to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) which handed over them in the detention of the Sindh police’s Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD).

However, since they had so far done no harm to anyone, and regretted their decision because of being fully ‘brainwashed’, were released on probation.

Bilal, who settled in Karachi in 2013, was born in Dubai in 1986 and had got his education the American University in Dubai in 2006. Zain was born in Saudi Arabia and upon his return to Pakistan got his bachelor degree from Iqra University.

With no Madrassah or Pakistani educational background the economically sound youths were living in families least concerned about their kids, investigators say. “During examination by forensic psychologists it emerged that lose family bonds and indifferent attitude of the family was a major cause of the drastic shift in their lives” the police officer said.

According to the police, Bilal Rind was a ‘party boy’ and had spent his life abroad. Even a young preacher can bring a  180 degree shift in their thoughts, says Khattab, adding as soon as Rind was contacted by IS men, he was abandoned by the family, and it took him no time to become a Mowlvi.

Shahid’s case is no different, adds the counter-terrorism officer.

“Broken families that are not with separated parents but still their mornings start with squabbling, affect the teens, pushing them towards destructive thoughts”, says Dr Fateh Muhammad Burfat – founding chairman of the department Criminology University of Karachi.

“An anti-crime society has to be developed to eliminate the menace of extremism for which proactive families – where the kids share every problem with their parents and elder brothers – and education based on societal ethics is to be ensured”.

Published in The Frontier Post 

Elimination of Malik Ishaq no fatal blow to sectarian killings

Naimat Khan

KARACHI: Although elimination of Malik Ishaq, chief of his own major faction of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in a ‘police encounter’ in Muzaffargarh district of Punjab on late Tuesday is being seen as a serious blow to sectarian outfits, a recent study shows the group only claimed 14% of the total sectarian killings carried out in the country, and numerous groups responsible for similar attacks are still ‘on the run’.

Ishaq was killed when along with his two sons was being taken by counter terrorism department (CTD) officials to Muzaffargarh for identification of detained men on suspicion of being members of Ishaq’s group. On the way, in a bid to release the LeJ chief, a group of men on motorcycles ambushed the convoy near Shahwala Jungle, and as a result, in the exchange of fire, 14 suspected militants, including the group’s chief were killed.

Ishaq’s second-in-command, Ghulam Rasool and other top leaders were also slain in the shootout, a Punjab Home Ministry spokesperson told media.

The killing is being seen as a step towards the end of killings based on sectarian motives; however, according to the CRSS Security Report Jundullah, another terrorist organisation, is responsible for most of the sectarian killings in Pakistan. It has claimed 23 per cent of sectarian killings in the country.

The second highest number of sectarian attacks in Pakistan was claimed by the Jundul Hafsa group of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), killings 83 people of rival sects. Similarly, the TTP Ansarul Islam claimed killing 60 people with sectarian motives, attaining the third position.

According to the report, the LeJ claimed responsibility of 53 killings – just 14 per cent of the total 366 sectarian murders – and that too before the start of Zarb-e-Azb operation, the military offensive against militants in FATA and other areas in Pakistan.

Other prominent claimants of the sectarian killings include Da’ish or the Islamic State (IS) and TTP-Jamaat-al-Ahrar. Both the outfits claimed 45 and 26 murders, respectively.

During the first two quarters of the current year, TTP-JA claimed killing 26, Jundullah 82, Jundullah/IS 45, whereas three killings out of the total 156 sectarian deaths were claimed by other groups.

The data shows 85 casualties, including 64 fatalities and 21 injuries, during the last three months, May-July 2015. May remained the worst with 72 attacks, almost 85 per cent of the total during the period.

Comparative analysis of killings in general

A comparative analysis of sectarian of the killings in 2014 and first six months of the current year shows Punjab, FATA and Gilgit Baltistan controlled the menace as not even a single killing was reported in the respective administrative units.

In Sindh, 79 casualties, including 72 fatalities and seven injuries were reported in 2014, whereas 48 per cent of the victims belonged to this region in 2015. This mostly included victims of Safoora carnage, when over 40 Ismaili Shias were gunned down in Karachi. .

In Balochistan, 14 killings with 10 injuries have been reported so far against 34 fatalities and 25 injuries in 2014, making it the region with second highest number of killings of sectarian nature.

Meanwhile, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) has also performed well in controlling the killings – only one person was killed on the basis of one’s sect in 2015 as compared to eight murders and 12 injuries on the same grounds in 2014.

In total, 270 casualties, including 129 killings 141 injuries were reported in 2014 whereas 64 persons were killed and 21 wounded until 2015. This includes 104 and 18 Shia killings in 2014 and first six months of 2015.

Meanwhile, at least 16 of those killed so far in 2015 belonged to the Christian faith, 11 were Sunni Muslims, three Bohras and 47 Ismaili Muslims. Identity of 13 is unknown.

The report adds that despite a considerable improvement in the security situation of the country, and a significant reduction in number of killings in all forms of violence; religiously-driven militancy and politically patronised criminal syndicates remain the most formidable challenges for the security agencies.

“As the terrorists – most of whom are inspired either by local or external drivers as ploys of instability – are feeling the heat and are resorting to new tactics; picking up new targets through different tactics, followed by claims of responsibility by more than one groups” the report says.

Appeared in The Frontier Post – Peshawar originally

Taliban reemerge in Tank and Dera Ismail Khan

“With Mehsud militants on the run, residents see the rise of new factions of TTP”

By: Naimat Khan

Amid a countrywide campaign against terrorist groups, at least four factions of Taliban militants are strengthening their influence in Tank and Dera Ismail Khan districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, killing Mehsud elders and threatening traders for extortion, locals say.

“The groups, otherwise split and apparently having different agendas, demonstrate remarkable coordination when it comes to dealing with local traders, businessmen or big farmers to raise funds,” said a local elder who fled the area after he became a victim of their extortion. He was a farmer in the Draband Chongi area of Ladah tehsil.

They had demanded Rs 20 million from him for ‘Zakat’, but he declined. Then, “over two dozen militants stormed my house at dawn one day and forced us to pay Rs 8 million”, he said. His men put up a fight and killed one of the militants belonging to the Hakimullah faction of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The group is led by ‘Ehsanullah Warghoom Kay’ and Sherpao Mehsud.

On Tuesday, unidentified men killed the head of the local peace committee in Tank, also named Sherpao Mehsud. According to the police, two other volunteers of the anti-TTP peace committee were hurt in the gun attack in Kot Said Badshah area of Gomal.

“The militants have killed over 70 percent of Mehsud elders,” a local elder said.

A social activist running an NGO in Dera Ismail Khan was abducted from the Raghzae area of Kotkaye Speenkai locality in South Waziristan. He was freed after he paid Rs 30 million to militants of the Abdullah Mehsud group – a faction that also provides operational services to the Molvi Nazir group, which does not have access to Dera Ismail Khan.

“The militants have killed over 70 percent of Mehsud elders”

“Everyone who they believe supports the Khan Said aka Sajna group faces the wrath of the Hakimullah Mehsud faction. They did not even spare Maulana Merajuddin, a former JUI-F lawmaker from South Waziristan, for his alleged support to the Sajna group,” said the local elder.

They do not have direct influence in the area, he said, but acquired the services of the Turkestan Bhittani group to scan the internally displaced persons (IDP) from North Waziristan for pro-Sajna elders, a local resident said.

Locals say the Turkestan Bhittani faction is very strong in Dera Ismail Khan and Tank, despite its leader’s surrender to the security forces. Its fighters can be seen traveling in their double-cabin vehicles, said a local, and they also have influence in the Frontier Region Tank and Frontier Region Jandullah.

“No Jirgas of the Mehsud and Bhittani tribes can be held in Tank and Dera Ismail Khan before the prior approval of the Abdullah Mehsud and Bhittani groups,” he said. “The group killed Noor Wali, a Qazi of Sajna group in Waziristan, after he held a Jirga without their permission.”

The Luni tehsil of Dera Ismail Khan is in control of the Malang Gandapur group, locals say, which consists of militants from the prominent Mian Khel and Gandapur tribes of the area. The group emerged in 2014, and is in contact with the Fazlullah group of Tehreek-e-Taliban.

Saifur Rehman, a police stationhouse officer in Luni, killed Salim Shah, a commander of the group, in an encounter on December 14 last year. An officer said the police soon received a threat: “If you kill one of us, we will kill two of you.”

Two days after the message, militants of the Malang Gandapur group, led by Commander Amin Jan, attacked the house of the SHO, killing his brother Fakhar Usman and another man, and wounding one other.

Then, the police arrested three commanders of the Malang group – Abu Bakar, Umar Altaf and Abdur Rehman – from the forests of Luni after fierce fighting. The militants responded with an attack on a superintendent of police, which he survived. On 14th January, they attacked the house of ASI Qaiser Jehan, killing two of his brothers and a passerby. On January 15, four cops, including a sub-inspector, were injured in an attack on a police van in Dera Mastan area of the Dera Ismail Khan.

Besides terrorist attacks, abduction for ransom, and extortion, these groups also provide operational services to anti-Shia groups like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a police source said. They also let other outfits keep abducted men in the area.

A handbill distributed in the area distances itself from some of the militants. “Some elements posing as TTP and threatening the people living in Tank and Gomal areas are not associated with the movement,” it said, “and local residents should complain on the given telephone numbers,”

“Militancy in DI Khan is not a new phenomenon; the Taliban have left strong footprint in the area in the recent times,” said a resident of the Luni tehsil who has recently moved to Islamabad. Over 240 militants were set free by the terrorists in the DI Khan jailbreak on July 30, 2013.

“Taliban have developed different identities over time,” said a journalist from the troubled district. “As the security forces have broken the backbone of Mehsud militants, Gandapur, Mian Khel, Marwat, Saraiki and Baloch militants are emerging DI Khan.”

Originally Published in The Friday Times

LeJ plans to attack Rangers, CTD officials

Naimat Khan

KARACHI: The proscribed Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) has planned to attack Sindh Rangers, officials of the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) and SSP Malir Rao Anwar, highly credible sources divulge to The Frontier Post here on Friday.

According to intelligence sources the two separate groups of the LeJ have arrived in Karachi and will try hard to hit the targets within coming 48 hours.

The intelligence agencies have warned Rangers, CTD officials and SSP Rao Anwar to take extra measures for security and remain watchful to dodge the heinous plan of terrorists.

Sources said that Rangers and Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), previously called Crime Investigation Department (CID), have nabbed many terrorists of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) which has broken the backbone of terrorists.

The LeJ, Taliban and Jundullah nexus has been targeting police and people of Shia sect in Sindh province. The nexus has carried out several attacks on Imambargah, police and other soft targets due to its strong network in Sindh province, however, the law enforcers, especially Sindh Rangers and Counter Terrorism Department of the Sindh police have caused them huge losses in terms of arrests and killings in encounters.

“One of the major breakthrough was the arrest of masterminds of the Shikarpur Imambargah blast”, an official of the Sindh police said while wishing not to be named.

Now in order to put the morale of law enforcers down the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has planned to carry out lethal attacks on the Rangers and CID officials. For the purpose, two different groups have been prepared, intelligences sources said. Sources said that SSP Malir, Rao Anwar who in different encounters has killed several militants associated with outlaw Taliban, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Jundullah outfits is also at the hit list and thus one of the three targets of the terrorists. According to sources the terrorist may strike anytime within two days.

Originally Published here