Pakistan police claim they have arrested suspected militants, foiled Muharram attack in Karachi
KARACHI: Police in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province said on Wednesday they had arrested a wanted militant planning a suicide bomb attack targeting Muharram marches in Karachi, saying the attack could have caused “massive destruction”.
Muhammad Shoaib, an alleged commander of the Pakistani Taliban, or Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), was arrested by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of Sindh Police on Wednesday.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police has awarded Rs 2 million [$7182] A bounty has been placed on Shoaib, who was arrested after a shootout with police in Karachi’s Ittihad Town area, a CTD Sindh official said at a press conference.
“The arrested terrorist revealed that he was forced to carry out the suicide attack with his accomplices in Karachi’s Orangi Town during Muharram-ul-Haram,” CTD Deputy Inspector General Asif Ejaz Shaikh told reporters in Karachi.
Shaikh added that the attack could have posed “a risk of large-scale casualties and widespread destruction in Karachi.”
He said the alleged TTP commanders had been planning to meet with accomplices and a relative, Ishaq, to orchestrate the attack.
“Ishaq was also involved in serious crimes and was wanted on terrorism charges,” Shaikh revealed. [in Karachi] He then worked with the suspect to carry out this terrorist plot.”
Officials said Shoaib was also involved in the kidnapping of 16 coal miners in KP province in 2021.
“The workers were likely killed and buried in a mass grave after their relatives refused to pay the ransom,” Shaikh said. “An initial report of the incident has been submitted to CTD Kohat.”
He said Shoaib was also wanted in several cases including murder, kidnapping for ransom, attacks on troops, clashes with peace committees and bomb blasts.
Shaikh said Shoaib’s son Muaz had been shot dead earlier in an encounter with security forces.
Muharram marks the beginning of the Islamic lunar new year, during which Shiite Muslims across Pakistan gather and organise religious processions to pay homage to Imam Hussain, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
Hundreds of thousands of people march across the country on Ashura, the 10th day of Muharram, to mourn the death of Hussein, who was martyred centuries ago in what is now Karbala, Iraq. Militants have attacked Muharram religious processions in the past, stoking sectarian tensions in the country.
Every year, the government adopts enhanced security measures to protect Muharram processions from militant attacks.
In 2009, a bomb attack on an Ashura march on MA Jinnah Street in downtown Karachi killed at least 43 people and injured 60 in the attack, which the TTP claimed responsibility for.
In response to a question, Shaikh said Shoaib was part of a larger TTP network operating out of Karachi, adding that the organisation also had sleeper cells in the port city.
Asked whether the TTP was involved in the shooting that killed a counter-terrorism official in Karachi on Sunday, Shaikh said it was very likely that the banned organisation was involved.
“There is a 90% possibility that the TTP was involved in the killing of Deputy Commissioner of Police Ali Raza,” he said.
Raza, who was working in the investigation wing of the Sindh CTD, was fatally attacked by unidentified assailants in the city.
