Mastermind of Karachi Rangers camp attack arrested: police

Police on Tuesday said the alleged mastermind behind last month’s deadly attack on a Rangers camp in Karachi was arrested, adding that the terrorists had received training and operational support from Afghanistan.

A bomb and gun attack on a Sindh Rangers facility in Karachi martyred three paramilitary troops and injured four others on June 27 night, the military’s media wing had said in a statement the next day.

Terrorists from the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, had detonated an explosive at the entrance of the Rangers camp in Gulistan-i-Jauhar neighbourhood before opening fire on the troops, the military had said.

Addressing a press conference alongside Sindh Home Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar, Inspector General of Sindh Police Javed Akhtar Odho in Karachi, SSP Irfan Bahadur said investigations had revealed the involvement of elements based in Afghanistan in the planning and execution of the attack.

He identified the alleged mastermind as Qari Basheer alias Qari Habib, saying he was arrested during a Rangers-led operation conducted after the incident.

The SSP further said that several key facilitators of Qari Basheer, as well as the main smugglers who supplied weapons to the attackers, had also been taken into custody.

Home Minister Lanjar said that the attackers were being directed by handlers operating from Afghan soil.

“All their handlers were instructing them to inflict maximum damage in Karachi, take hostages and sabotage peace in the city,” he said.

Lanjar added that law enforcement agencies, through extensive investigations following the attack, had uncovered an entire network of facilitators linked to the assault.

The officials said investigations into the incident were continuing and pledged to bring all those involved in the attack to justice.