KARACHI: Pakistan's Sindh Police has killed three militants and arrested four others as they were planning a major terrorist attack here, officials said today. They were planning to bomb Jamaat Khanas (houses) of the Shia Ismaili Aga Khan community and other Imambargahs and shrines.
Counter-terrorism department's superintendent of police Raja Khatab said. "The raids were conducted on intelligence inputs since Karachi has seen a rise in terrorist attacks in the city in recent times. Sleeper cells were destroyed in the raids. Three terrorists were killed in Machar Colony after they opened fire on the police," the officer said.
He said Kalashnikovs, rifles, pistols, home-made bombs were recovered during the raids. Police suspect that one terror group is behind the recent killing of police officials in the city. Khatab said the terror group could have militants from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Jundullah group. "They are operating under a new outfit using the name of Ansar al-Sharia," he said.
Senior police official Sanaullah Abbasi had said that this group comprises educated and media-savvy individuals. Police said that they were equally concerned, not only with their targeting of police officials, but also with winning public perception and de-legitimising the state.
According to Abbasi, the outlawed TTP has established at least five different groups in the country to carry out terror attacks.