KARACHI, April 6: Police on Tuesday claimed to have arrested nine activists of the banned Harkatul Mujahideen Al-Aalmi, including an absconding suspect who is alleged to have masterminded the suicide bombings outside Sheraton Hotel and the US consulate in Karachi.
Police have also solved the case of bombing of the honorary Mecedonian consulate and explosions at 21 petrol stations throughout the city on May 15, 2003, said the Sindh police chief, Syed Kamal Shah, at a press conference here on Tuesday.
He said the police had arrested nine suspects, and described three of them as ring leaders and the rest as workers. The arrests were made in Gulistan-i-Jauhar and the Boating Basin area late Monday night.
Mr Shah said that Syed Sohail Akhtar alias Mustafa had been absconding in the Sheraton Hotel and US consulate bombing cases. In both cases, Mustafa had accompanied the suicide bombers to the spots where they had detonated themselves, he added.
Though the police chief did not identify the suicide bombers, he said the Sheraton suicide bomber belonged to upper Punjab and the US consulate bomber to Swat. Mustafa had also been the mastermind behind the Mecedonian consulate bombing, he said and added that apart from Mustafa, Zafar Iqbal alias Sohail and Naeem Rafi alias Namee constituted the leadership of the gang.
Their accomplices were identified as Mohammad Atif alias Kamran, Mohammad Khaliq alias Shahzad, Syed Ahmer Kazmi, Mehmoodullah, Abdul Raziq and Sameerullah. The entire group belonged to the proscribed extremist organization, Harkatul Mujahideen Al-Aalmi. Referring to the arrest of the six workers, he said that soon after their arrest, they had confessed carrying out explosions at 21 petrol stations in the city.
The nine suspects were wanted in 30 different cases, including the Sheraton suicide bombing on May 8, 2002, the US consulate suicide bombing on June 14, 2002, the bombing at the honorary consulate of Macedonia on December 5, 2002, the explosions at 21 petrol stations on May 15, 2003, the grenade attack at a church in Saddar on December 22 1998, the grenade attack at the CID Sindh office on November 11, 2001, the grenade attack at the Kalri police station on November 1 2001.
They were also involved in the grenade attack at a Rangers' mobile in Liaquatabad on October 13, 2001, the planting of a time bomb near the YMCA on October 25, 2001, which was defused by the police.
The police showed recovery of one .222 rifle, one TT pistol with silencer, four TT pistols with bullets, six grenades, two vehicles and a sizable quantity of banned jihadi literature.
Mr Shah said that during the last few years, the police had arrested 130 suspects wanted in terrorism cases, of them 55 had been awarded sentences by courts.
GADAP CASE: The police claimed on Tuesday to have solved the mystery of the Gadap tragedy and arrested the killers of the two minor girls. Speaking at a press conference at the driving licence branch in Clifton here, provincial police chief Syed Kamal Shah said that all evidence had been collected but the case was complicated. "Our investigating team carried out hectic efforts and solved the case by adopting scientific methods," he added.
Hajra, 8, and Sassi, 5, went missing on Feb 20 after they had left their houses for collecting firewood in Murad Memon Goth near the Gadap police station. They were found killed at a place adjacent to the police station on Feb 23.
Mr Shah denied involvement of police officials in the double murder and said that the image of the police had been tarnished due to the action taken against officials of the Gadap police station on the basis of initial reports.
He said that the family and the area people were angry with the police and they did not want to cooperate with the investigation officials. However, he added, the investigation officials had continued investigations and reached the conclusion that Haji Piral, his two sons, Zahid and Manzoor, and their relative, Hanif Barejo, were involved in the killings. Except Manzoor, all suspects are in police custody.
According to the police chief, Haji Piral was in the forefront during the agitation and protest against the police in the area, and also sympathized with the parents of the deceased girls.
Mr Shah said that the girls had been taken to the house of Piral near a graveyard, where Zahid, Manzoor and Hanif had raped Hajra. Due to excessive bleeding, she died on the spot. They then axed her and shot Sassi in the head and dumped their bodies at the place next to the police station.
He said that there was a dispute between the killers and the families of Hajra and Sassi. The killers were also reportedly involved in drug pushing and theft cases, and wanted to divert the attention of the police as the police were investigating a theft case against them. They attempted to take revenge from the police by dumping the bodies next to the police station so that the police could be involved in the murders.
Later talking to Dawn, chief investigator Mir Zubair Mehmood said that the police had found a piece of the bullet in the house of the killers where Sassi had been shot. They also reportedly found a wheelbarrow in the house on which the bodies were removed. "We have found blood spots on the wheelbarrow and sent the samples for laboratory tests," he added.
Mr Mehmood said that Zahid had married five days back from the date of the incident. He had had lunch at the house of Hajra, where he had been invited by Hajra's father, the investigator said and added that later on the same day, Zahid had raped Hajra.
According to the chief investigator, Haji Piral was aware of the murders. He was seen at midnight after the bodies had been dumped. "This prompted us to investigate why he was roaming around the police station. He could not satisfy us and ultimately he provided us with a lead to the place where murders were committed," he added.
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