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Terrorism-related Incidents in Karachi - 2008

No

Date

Incident

1

January 14

11 persons, including two children, were killed and more than 50 persons wounded in a bomb blast in the industrial Landhi suburbs of Gul Ahmadpur in Karachi. "The bomb was planted on a motorbike and exploded outside a textile factory in the Landhi District of Karachi," said senior police official Mohammed Javed.

2

January 22

Security agencies arrested five suspected militants during several raids in Karachi.

3

January 22

Jahangir Bhatti, a suspected militant who had just arrived from Saudi Arabia, was arrested at the Karachi International Airport and shifted to an undisclosed location. Yousaf Mehsud, a close aide of Baitullah Mehsud — arrested on January 21 in Sohrab Goth Police Station precincts — reportedly provided the information about Bhattiti’s arrival. Police personnel also raided the house of Aitzaz Shah, the 15-year old suspect arrested in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case, in the Pirabad area and arrested his father Zahir Shah and uncle Zohaib Shah. They later raided a madrassa (seminary) at Old Golimar where Aitzaz Shah used to study before leaving for Afghanistan, and arrested two suspected militants.

4

January 29

At least seven militants of the Jundullah group and two police officials, including a Deputy Superintendent, were killed in two encounters in the Landhi and Shah Latif Town areas of Karachi. One of the slain militants was identified as Qasim Toori, a 27-year-old former policeman, who was wanted for a June 2004 attack on the then Karachi Corps Commander in which 11 people were killed. Five people were arrested including a man believed to be from Uzbekistan.

5

February 4

Unidentified gunmen opened fire on a Pakistan People’s Party election rally in Karachi, wounding one person.

6

February 15

Karachi Police arrested 10 members of a militant organisation linked to the Taliban who were planning massive terrorist attacks in the city during the elections. Inspector General of Police Azhar Ali Farooqi said the militant outfit, Tehrik-i-Islami Lashkar-i-Muhammadi, had ties with Mullah Dadullah, Taliban commander Tahir and Sirajul Haq Haqqani. Farooqi disclosed that the arrested men were formerly members of other banned outfits, like the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM), but after the Lal Masjid operation they formed a group of their own because their former organisations had ‘deviated’ from their mission.

7

February 17

Karachi Police arrested six members of the Hizbut Tehrir while they were pasting posters near Shahra-e-Qaideen. Geo News stated that the police arrested Ghulam Ali, Rizwan Ali, Abdul Samad, Talha, Shirafat Ali and Muhammad Sajid, and recovered a large number of posters from their possession. According to the police, the posters read: "Change cannot come with the present democracy and the enforcement of Caliphate is essential for bringing about a change."

8

February 29

The banned Sunni group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) reportedly drew several hundred supporters near its headquarters in Karachi as it denounced the blasphemous caricatures of the holy Prophet published in some Danish newspapers, and declared jihad against Denmark and the West if they continued to insult Islam. It was the fist major public rally by the SSP since it was banned in 2001. The SSP's protest took place after Friday prayers at the SSP headquarters at Masjid-e-Siddique Akbar in the Nagan Chowrangi area.

9

March 19

Karachi Police arrested Mohammad Kashif, an Intermediate student allegedly linked to the Taliban. Police also claimed that he was a member of the HuMA. He was arrested during a raid in Landhi and the police claimed to have recovered weapons and equipment used to seal arms licenses.

10

March 27

Two officers of the Intelligence Bureau believed to be involved in anti-Al Qaeda operations were shot dead on a busy street near Regal Chowk in Karachi.

11

June 19

Police arrested Maulana Abdullah Shah Mazhar, a former JeM leader, from a seminary in the Monghopir area of Karachi. He was accused of holding a conference on the ‘Martyrs of Islam’ in the seminary without the permission of the city administration.

12

June 22

Unidentified armed militants shot dead two policemen and injured four others at Hub in Karachi. The policemen were on a routine patrol of the area when the militants attacked them. Hub Station House Officer Abdullah Jan Afridi told that police have arrested three men allegedly connected to the armed men and added that the militants are affiliated with an unidentified Baloch terrorist group.

13

July 7

At least 50 persons, including seven children, were injured in a series of seven low-intensity explosions in two busy neighbouring areas of Karachi. The blasts occurred within 90 minutes of each other, striking residential and commercial areas. Two of the blasts occurred in Banaras, injuring 16 people. The third explosion, which injured five people, ripped through a mini-truck in North Nazimabad. The fourth bomb was affixed to a motorcycle in the Qasba Colony. A fifth explosion occurred near a children’s school in Hyderi. A policeman was injured in the sixth blast in Manghopir. The seventh blast occurred in Pak Colony, injuring seven people.

14

July 10

A trustee of the Hussainian Iranian Imambargah in Kharadar in Karachi was shot dead. 25-year old Agha Mansoor Ahmed was attacked while he was sitting with some friends at his restaurant on the MA Jinnah Road. "According to the initial investigation, this is a case of a sectarian killing," said Saddar Town Superintendent of Police, Ameer Sheikh.

15

July 22

Unidentified gunmen killed a senior security officer of the Pakistan People’s Party Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari in Karachi. Ejaz Durrani, a spokesman for Zardari, said unidentified gunmen opened fire on Khalid Shahenshah’s vehicle outside his home in the Khayaban-e-Bukhari area.

16

August 22

Karachi Police arrested three financiers of the TTP, Tariq alias Junaid, Wasim alias Gadda and Muddasir, from Mauripur and recovered arms and vehicles from their possession. Two vehicles ands some arms were recovered from their possession.

17

September 8

Police arrested a cadre of the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LeJ), identified as Zeeshan, in Karachi.

18

September 26

Three would-be suicide bombers, suspected to be LeJ cadres, were killed along with a handcuffed hostage when one of the bombers blew himself up following a police raid on a house in Karachi.

19

October 27

Four persons, including an imam (prayer leader) and a seminary teacher, were killed and several others injured, when suspected militants opened fire on them at Baldia Town in Karachi. The slain persons were identified as Shahzaib Alam, Shamsul Haq, Muhammad Kamal and Abdul Malik.

20

October 31

Two activists of the Awami National Party were killed while another was wounded when unidentified militants opened fire on them with 9-mm pistols near a gas station in Block-P under Shahrah-e-Noor Jehan police limits in Karachi. The slain political activists were identified as Gul Feroze and Mohammed Ali.

21

November 3

The Crime Investigation Department arrested eight persons belonging to the banned Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM). They were arrested between October 20 and 22 in raids in various parts of Karachi, before they could reportedly carry out planned terrorist activities in the city. The arrested militants were identified as Asad Ahmed, Ali Ahmed Siddiqui, Asim Farman, Imran Yousuf, Tuaqeer, Munir Nasir, Noorul Hassan and Rafaqat Hussain.

22

November 5

A constable was shot dead within the jurisdiction of Korangi Police Station in the Qayyumabad area of Karachi.

28

December 11

Police sealed the central office of the Jama’at-ud-Da’awa in Gulshan-i-Iqbal. City Police chief Waseem Ahmed said the office was sealed on a directive of the federal Government and efforts were being made to track down top leaders.

29

December 12

In the Sindh province, officials said they had arrested 11 JuD operatives and sealed six offices and six seminaries, but the group’s officials claimed 100 operatives had been detained 35 offices sealed. "Seven of the men and two of the seminaries belonged to Karachi," said Sindh Special Secretary Collin Kamran Dost

30

December 14

Senior Superintendent of Police Sohail Zafar Chatta confirmed sealing the Al Amin Trust (AAT) head office in Karachi. The AAT has three other offices in Karachi and 20 in 15 other cities. "All of our offices have been sealed and bank accounts seized," AAT spokesman Muhammad Abdullah told. "As for the recovery of weapons, we do not have any arms," he added. Abdullah said the AAT ambulance service had also been stopped. He claimed the organisation was engaged in welfare and relief activities. He also said: "We are still trying to figure out why the government has taken this step… We will appeal in the court to challenge the imposition of the ban because we were never involved in any immoral activity and our relief and other activities in Pakistan are being affected following this step."

 

 

 

 

 

 
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