Senior police official, on condition on anonymity, said: "It has been confirmed that we have arrested some key persons of al-Qaeda in Pakistan and soon we will able to break their network."
Agencies add: A senior police intelligence officer said the two dead suspects were Yemenis and one of them was suspected to be involved in the murder of US reporter Daniel Pearl. "We have very strong suspicions that one of them was the one who beheaded Pearl," he told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We are rechecking this information from other intelligence agencies but one of them looked like the person suspected of murdering Pearl," he said.
Three foreigners among five arrested; seven LEAs men injured; 'Pearl's killer' suspected to be among the dead
By Azfar-ul-Ashfaque
KARACHI: Tracing a satellite phone call, an intelligence agency and police personnel killed two suspected al-Qaeda activists of foreign origin and arrested five others after an encounter here on Wednesday, police sources and eyewitnesses said. Among those arrested, there were two Pakistanis, two Arabs and a Tajik, all of whom were unable to speak Urdu, it was reliably learnt.
Eyewitnesses said at about 9:00 am, a large contingent of police and officials in plain clothes surrounded a three-storey residential building at 15th Commercial Street, Defence Housing Authority, Phase-II Extension and arrested two foreigners, appearing to be Afghans or Arabs from outside the building. However, sensing danger, their other accomplices started firing and hurled hand grenades on the team of law-enforcement agencies injuring three cops.
The police returned the fire, however, due to heavy firing by the terrorists, more police force was called out and the entire area was cordoned off. A contingent of Rangers also reached the spot and joined the encounter. Police and Rangers also fired tear-gas shells. After two and half hours, some of the Jawans and police managed to enter the building.
Police sources said they arrested three "unarmed bearded men", who appeared to be Afghans or Arabs, from one of the apartments, and also recovered bodies of two suspected terrorists from another room.
The sources said two terrorists, who were arrested before the encounter, were in the custody of an intelligence agency, while the Rangers took custody of the remaining three accused after heated arguments with the police official, present on the spot. However, a spokesman of the Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) denied such a report and said that all the five persons were in the custody of Sindh police, who were investigating them.
Talking to newsmen on the spot, Inspector-General Police (IGP) Sindh Syed Kamal Shah denied that the encounter had any link with the September 11 attacks anniversary. "This incident has nothing to do with the anniversary. We have arrested five terrorists after an encounter in which two others were killed," the IGP said. He said the encounter took place after police gave the terrorists a warning to surrender but they instead attacked the police. "We warned them several times to surrender, but the firing from them continued and they also hurled grenades at the police."
The police sources said a satellite phone, a laptop, a few CDs, some books, one Russian AK-47 rifle, a pistol, two hand-grenades and a number of bullet rounds were recovered from the apartment.
Reliable sources informed that a couple, residing in the building, was taken into protective custody. The police also removed their four-year -old daughter to PNS Shifa, who had fallen unconscious following heavy tear-gas shelling.
Five policemen, Assistant Sub-Inspectors Omar Hayat and Baqar Shah and police constables Muhammad Zamir, Muhammad Yousuf and Sher Ali received injuries. ASI Omar Hayat has been admitted to a hospital in serious condition as he sustained bullet wound in his chest, while others received injuries caused by the splinters of hand-grenades. Besides, according to well-placed sources, two officials of an intelligence agency also received injuries.
The bodies were shifted to the Jinnah Post-graduate Medical Centre (JPMC) for autopsy in the evening. The police did not allow photographers to take their pictures. Even at the mortuary, the police locked the doors and did not allow any one to enter.
It is reliably learnt that both the deceased sported beards and one of then looked like a Yemeni while the other appeared to be a Tajik national. Hospital sources said the deceased were in their mid-30s and had sustained multiple bullet wounds.
A large number of people gathered at the scene, during and after the encounter. The police tried to disperse them but in vain. A teenager, Shiraz, who resided in a nearby building, told The News that some foreigners used to live in the apartment, where the encounter took place. According to him, they left the flat one month ago and since then a Pakistani couple with a minor girl began to live here. The third-floor apartment, which was raided on Wednesday, was rented by one Gul Bibi from an estate dealer Faisal Qureshi.
Another resident, who did not want to be named, said that the people, who were arrested and killed on Wednesday, appeared to be Afghans or Russians but some of their visitors appeared to be Arabs. He maintained that they (terrorists) used to play cards or watch television, whenever he saw them from his terrace.
Highly-placed sources told this correspondent that all the arrested accused were being investigated by a joint interrogation team, comprising officials of the intelligence agencies, police and the Rangers.
A senior police official, on condition on anonymity, said: "It has been confirmed that we have arrested some key persons of al-Qaeda in Pakistan and soon we will able to break their network."
Agencies add: A senior police intelligence officer said the two dead suspects were Yemenis and one of them was suspected to be involved in the murder of US reporter Daniel Pearl. "We have very strong suspicions that one of them was the one who beheaded Pearl," he told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We are rechecking this information from other intelligence agencies but one of them looked like the person suspected of murdering Pearl," he said.
One of the arrested men shouted "Allah-o-Akbar" as he was led away, while another was speaking Arabic, witnesses said. The Kalma was written in blood on the wall of the apartment's kitchen, a policemen told Reuters.
Police, who had been stationed on the roofs of surrounding buildings, inside apartments and on the roads, fired in the air in celebration as the men were led away, most of the suspects bearded and blindfolded.
One officer said one of the men was an Afghan, while two others were Arabs. But IGP Kamal Shah refused to say who they were. "They are not ordinary criminals," he said. "I cannot say who they are or why they were there. Investigations will prove who they are." Shah declined to give information about the group but said they "were not normal criminals."
An AFP reporter saw slogans in Urdu chalked on a wall in the street reading: "Long live al-Qaeda" and "Suicide attacks on America will continue." Residents said some Arabs had been seen in the area. "I had been seeing them for the past one month. They were regular visitors but not permanent residents," said local religious leader Molvi Abdul Rehman. "They did not mix with other people in the area," he said. |
