KARACHI: Authorities on Tuesday said they had uncovered the facilitator network behind last month’s terrorist attack on a Sindh Rangers facility in Karachi and arrested the alleged mastermind, identified as Qari Bashir.
Addressing a joint press conference alongside Inspector General of Police Javed Alam Odho, Additional Inspector General of the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) Zulfiqar Lark and SSP CTD Irfan Bahadur, Sindh Home Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar said the June 27 attack on the Sindh Rangers’ Karachi Transport Company headquarters was carried out by four militants.
According to the minister, three of the attackers were Afghan nationals while the fourth hailed from Bajaur and had lived in Afghanistan for around 20 years. He alleged that the militants were directed by handlers based in Afghanistan and had planned to take hostages and inflict heavy casualties.
Lanjar said Rangers personnel foiled the assault during a successful operation in which three attackers were killed while a fourth was captured alive in an injured condition.
Providing details of the investigation, SSP CTD Irfan Bahadur said the operation had four distinct stages: planning in Afghanistan, infiltration of the militants into Pakistan, facilitation by a local support network, and the provision of weapons and suicide vests.
He identified one of the suicide bombers as Janan, an Afghan national, while another attacker belonged to Bajaur. A third militant, Umar Farooq, was said to be a resident of Afghanistan’s Kunar province, while the surviving suspect, identified as Usman, was from Nangarhar province.
Bahadur alleged that the attack had been planned by individuals identified as Noor Wali, Sher Ali, Saeed Shah and others. He also named Basir alias Ahrar Mullah, whom he described as the chief of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, as being involved.
The SSP said Qari Bashir was the alleged mastermind of the attack and had been summoned from Pakistan to Afghanistan, where he was assigned the operation before returning to coordinate it. He said Rangers later arrested Bashir during an intelligence-based operation and claimed the suspect had confessed to his role in planning the attack.
According to the CTD official, the attackers were selected in Afghanistan and underwent training at two camps before being sent to Karachi. He said the arrested militant, Usman, had admitted during interrogation that he was recruited from a religious seminary in Afghanistan and received militant training at multiple camps before crossing into Pakistan.
Bahadur alleged that militant groups were being trained in Afghanistan and deployed for attacks inside Pakistan. He said the suspects entered the country through different routes before converging in Balochistan and travelling to Hub. From there, they allegedly reached Karachi’s Chamra Chowrangi by vehicle.
He said Qari Bashir arranged rented accommodation for the attackers in Karachi and that a total of 13 individuals were involved in facilitating the operation. According to the investigation, the militants also conducted reconnaissance of the target before launching the attack.
The CTD official further claimed investigators had recovered videos from Qari Bashir’s mobile phone showing preparations for the attack as well as footage of the militants departing for the operation. He alleged that Bashir himself recorded a farewell video before sending the attackers to the target.
Authorities also played what they described as confessional video statements of Qari Bashir and suicide bomber Janan during the press conference.
According to Bahadur, the planners of the attack remain in Afghanistan, where they allegedly operate from safe havens. He further alleged that Afghan territory was being used to train and dispatch militants for attacks in Pakistan.
In his video statement shown to journalists, Qari Bashir claimed that Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander Saeed Shah had instructed him to receive and deliver weapons in Karachi. He alleged that the arms, including assault rifles and hand grenades, were supplied through local facilitators before being handed over to the attackers at Korangi Crossing.
According to the statement, once preparations were completed, the attackers travelled to the target by taxi. Bashir alleged that suicide bomber Janan detonated himself at the entrance, after which the remaining three militants entered the compound in succession.
