Daily Times

KARACHI: The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) on Friday claimed to have traced the main members of the group that claimed the Sehwan suicide bombing.

The terrorists involved in the Sehwan attack had been turning children into suicide attackers, and their nexus with banned Jaish-e-Mohammad had surfaced through an NGO Al Rehmat Trust, as per the revelations made by an attested commander of banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi during interrogation, a CTD official told a press conference on Friday.

CTD SSP (Operations) Munir Ahmed Shaikh told the media at the CTD Garden that four alleged members of the Abdul Hafeez Pandrani Brohi group and banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi had been arrested from Kemari and Sohrab Goth areas of the city. He said that the accused were involved in the massacre at Sehwan.

“The arrested suspects – Abdul Aziz Shaikh, Aslam Gul, Asadullah and Ubaidullah – were involved in many cases of terrorism. They have been active since 2001. After the Sehwan blast, they came to Karachi and had been planning their next attacks,” Munir Shaikh stated.

“Abdul Aziz Sheikh is the main suspect and a key member of the LeJ who has been providing funds and new recruits. During interrogating, it has been surfaced that the suspect had close ties with Abdul Hafeez Pandrani and banned Jaish-e-Mohammad. As an amir of LeJ in Shikarpur, he funded Jaish-e-Mohammad through Al Rehmat Trust,” the SSP further said.

He told the media that the arrested youngster, Aslam Gul, was a would-be suicide bomber who disclosed that he was being trained by Abdul Hafeez and Abdul Aziz.

Aslam Gul also revealed during interrogation that a man Siraj was a friend of his father, who took him and other children from across Sindh to Shikarpur and started training them at a shop.