Sea View bombers wanted to target DHA cinema: police
Salis bin Perwaiz
Karachi: The investigators probing the Sea View bombing believe that the terrorists belonged to the banned Lashker-e-Jhangvi and the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and they might have a plan to target a cinema in the Defence Housing Authority (DHA).
The terrorist plot was foiled by two constables of the Darakhshan police station on November 17 after they spotted the suspects near the Village restaurant in Sea View. Two constables — Mamrez Khan and Maula Bux – who were deployed in the area on security duty, embraced martyrdom, while five suspected terrorists were killed after one of them blew himself up after being spotted by the police.
Among the five killed terrorists, two were identified as Shoaib and Ateeq while the identity of the three, including the torso of the bomber, could not be ascertained. A senior officer told The News that the police had sent samples for DNA test to Islamabad.
During initial investigation, it was found that one among the five killed suspects was a woman while the suicide bomber seemed to be a foreign national. According to the officer, one of the killed terrorists, Shoaib son of Abdullah, was a resident of Nazimabad and he had studied at a Madrassa in SITE in the year 2000. His father had developed suspicion that Shoaib had joined some banned outfit.
Abdullah then told the police that after joining the Madressah, Shoaib did not come to home for several months and when he returned he told him (Abdullah) that he had gone to Waziristan where he had joined the Lashker-e-Jhangvi and worked for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Abdullah tried to persuade him to quit his activities, but he refused. At this, the father finally abandoned his son and asked him to leave home and the family. Dumped by the father, Shoaib went to Waziristan to join the camp of Qari Hussain, a wanted terrorist of the LJ and also a commander of the TTP. Qari Hussain, known for training suicide bombers, shaped Shoaib as one.
Shoaib returned to Karachi with new targets. He along with his accomplices was on his way to accomplish a major terror plot when he was intercepted by the two constables. The other killed terrorist, Ateeq, also belonged to Karachi and he too was trained at Qari Hussain’s camp in Waziristan.
SSP CIA (Karachi) Raja Umer Khattab said that the terrorists might have been seven in number as previous investigations revealed that two accomplices would give backup support on a motorcycle whenever a vehicle bombing was carried out.
According to him, if the terrorists had to target the shrine of Hazrat Abdullah Shah Ghazi (RA) then they had to pass through three security check-points – one near the shrine, other at the Village restaurant and the last one at McDonalds; therefore, they might have some other target.
He believed that the terrorists might have wanted to target Cineplex in DHA. They were carrying arms, hand grenades and suicide jackets, indicating that they first wanted to create panic by killing people through firing and later blowing up the cinema hall in a suicide attack, he claimed. Khattab said they were searching for more leads and clues to solve the mystery surrounding the terror attempt.
Source: The News
Date:11/23/2011
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