Pakistan has arrested 97 al Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militants, including three commanders, in Karachi and foiled a planned attack to break US journalist Daniel Pearl's killer out of jail, the army said on Friday. The men are accused of involvement in major attacks on two Pakistani air bases, the Karachi airport, several regional intelligence headquarters and on police installations between 2009 and 2015, the military said.
The LeJ's Naeem Bokhari and Sabir Khan, as well as Farooq Bhatti, deputy chief of al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), were captured by Pakistani forces in recent raids, military spokesman Lieutenant General Asim Bajwa said. "Our conclusion is that all of the terrorist groups are trying to cooperate with each other in order to carry out terrorist attacks," he told a news conference. The LeJ and AQIS had been working "in collusion" with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, also known as the Pakistani Taliban, Bajwa added.
Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent was formed by global al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri in September 2014, and is one of dozens of Islamist militant groups, some aligned against Pakistan and others against its neighbours, that operate in the country. Pakistan has been under domestic and international pressure to crack down on all such groups, and launched a renewed operation against some of them in June 2014.
Bajwa declined to give details of the raids, including their timing. Several of those arrested, including Bokhari, were in the advanced stages of planning a jailbreak attempt on the Hyderabad Central Jail, Bajwa said. Khalid Omar Sheikh, who kidnapped and killed the Wall Street Journal's Daniel Pearl in 2002, is being held at that jail and was to be released during the raid, he said. Six suicide bombers had been enlisted in the attack plan, in addition to 19 involved in facilitating it, Bajwa said. More than 350 kg (772 lb) of explosives had been recovered from a building believed to be a hideout, he said.
The attackers planned to raid the prison compound with two vans filled with explosives, and had a list of about 35 prisoners they planned to kill, Bajwa said, displaying pencil sketches of the prison allegedly made by the militants. They had a separate list of about 100 prisoners, including Sheikh, whom they were supposed to release, he added. Video images of the militants' hideout showed blue plastic barrels filled with explosives, washing machines that had been used to transport arms and ammunition, long lengths of detonating cord and dozens of ball bearings.
The footage also showed several rifles that Bajwa said had been stolen from police in earlier targeted attacks. "This plan was 90 percent ready for execution," he added.
BR Karachi staff reporter adds: Bajwa said over 12000 arrests were made by security forces as a result of the operation Zarb-e-Azab. He said some 9000 weapons were seized during the operations in the country to break terrorists' network.
"Three high value targets, 94 hardcore terrorists nabbed during intelligence bases operations," Lieutenant General Asim Saleem Bajwa said and added that terrorists were wanted for attacks on a ISI office, Mehran base and Karachi Airport. He said that Karachi operation was commenced in September 2013 when targeted killings, street crimes, kidnapping for ransom and extortion were at their peak in the city. "Rangers conducted some 7000 raids. They have helped decline crimes in the Karachi on a significant scale," Bajwa said.
The biggest terrorist groups operating in Karachi are al Qaeda's Sub-continent chapter and LeJ, he said, adding that these groups were involved in major terror incidents in the city. He said al Qaeda and LeJ had a nexus of terrorism with operatives and financiers. He said all the terror outfits are trying to consolidate and conduct attacks in the city. A pool of terrorists utilised by all the terrorist groups, including 94 hardcore terrorists, was arrested.
The same group had planned and executed the Kamra base attack, attack on ISI base in Sukkur, Karachi Airport attack, Karachi jail break attempt and assassination of Karachi's top cop Chaudhry Aslam. Al Qaeda in the Sub-continent leader Mussannah is the mastermind and arranges financing for the group's operations in Karachi, the ISPR spokesman said. He also produced before the media three "high-value targets" identified as namely Naeem Bukhari, Muhammad Farooq alias Musanna and Sabir Khan - who were behind the Hyderabad jail break planning. He further revealed the terrorists were being facilitated by 12 people for Hyderabad jail break attempt.