Mastermind of bid on Musharraf’s life nabbed
By our correspondent
KARACHI: Police arrested the mastermind of a failed plot to kill President Pervez Musharraf after an encounter in Buffer Zone in the precincts of Tamoria police on Wednesday, police said.
They said the CID police raided a house No 1272, Sector 15-A/4, Buffer Zone, on a tip-off that Kamran alias Atif, an activist of banned Harkat-ul-Mujahideen-al-Alami was hiding there. As the police reached the hideout and knocked at the door, two suspects present there, started firing on the police and tried to flee, fearing their arrest. The police chased them, while returning their fire. In the exchange of fire one of the fleeing suspects was injured and arrested, police said. The other fled. Police brought the injured to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.
During the cross-fire a passer-by woman also sustained bullet injuries. She died on way to the hospital. The deceased was identified as a housemaid, Sarwar Bibi, wife of Imam Bukhash, while the arrested injured was identified as Kamran alias Atif, an absconding accused involved in several cases of terrorism, the police added.
Police said in the light of disclosers of the arrested accused, they seized eight hand-grenades, five rockets (RPG-7) with five initiators, a Klashnikov with three magazines, hundreds of rounds of live bullets of various calibres and five bombs, including four telephone bombs and a video-cassette bomb besides Jihadi literature from the house.
The Sindh government had already announced a cash prize of Rs 3 million for the arrest of Kamran. According to the police, he was an activist of banned Harkat-ul-Mujahideen-al-Alami, involved in several terrorism activities. He was the mastermind of the first attempt on President Pervez Musharraf’s life at Sharae-Faisal on April 26, 2002, police sources told The News.
Chief minister’s Adviser for Home Affairs Aftab Ahmed Shaikh along with IGP Syed Kamal Shah visited the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital and appreciated the police. The IGP termed the arrest a big achievement against terrorists.
The body of the deceased woman was handed over to her family after legal formalities. No compensation has so far been announced for her family. The Tamoria police have registered a case FIR No 197/2004 and further investigations were in progress. |
