Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Deputy Inspector General Syed Khurram Ali claimed on Thursday that the mastermind of the improvised explosive device (IED) attack in Karachi’s Saddar area earlier this month, was trained in Iran and received instructions and money from the head of the outlawed Sindhudesh Revolutionary Army (SRA) Asghar Shah, who was residing in the neighbouring country.
On May 12, an IED blast ripped through the busy Saddar area, killing a passerby and injuring several others. A number of vehicles were damaged as well, among which was a vehicle of the Pakistan Coast Guards. The banned SRA subsequently claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it targeted the Coast Guards’ vehicle.
On Wednesday, two men, identified as Allah Dino, 28, and his accomplice Nawab Ali, 26, were killed in an encounter with counter-terror police.
A spokesperson for the CTD said in a statement issued on Thursday that officials, during the course of investigating the May 12 blast, found three men trying to move explosive material and tools on a motorcycle a day earlier within the jurisdiction of the Mochka police station in the city.
When officials tried to stop the three suspects, they opened fire on the police. In the ensuing exchange of fire, two of the alleged terrorists were killed while the third escaped, the spokesperson said.
He further said the two killed terrorists — Dino and Ali — were associated with the Asghar Shah branch of the proscribed SRA.
Addressing a press conference alongside Karachi Administrator Murtaza Wahab on Thursday, the DIG said Dino was an expert of making IEDs and had been involved in terrorist activities at different levels, including attacking railway tracks.
“He went to Iran and was trained there.”
The DIG played a CCTV video of Dino and said that the terrorist could be seen walking with the bicycle, in which the IED was believed to be fitted, for five kilometres before parking it and sitting at a restaurant from where he detonated the bomb via remote control. Dino then sat in a rickshaw and left, he added. According to the statement from the CTD spokesperson, Dino and Nawab Ali had received Rs178,000 from the SRA through a mobile cash wallet to carry out terrorist activities.
