KARACHI: Sindh police said on Tuesday they had arrested the mastermind of last month’s attack on a Rangers camp in Karachi, who helped in planning and coordination in the assault from Afghanistan.
Speaking at a joint press conference alongside Sindh Inspector General of Police Javed Alam Odho and Home Minister Zia-ul-Hassan Lanjar, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) Irfan Bahadur said the mastermind confessed to his role during interrogation. Authorities played a video of his alleged confession at a joint news conference with senior police officials and Sindh Home Minister Zia-ul-Hassan Lanjar.
Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) officials identified the suspect as Qari Bashir.
The attack took place on June 27, when militants from the Afghanistan-based Jamaat-ul-Ahrar group targeted a Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) camp in Karachi. The assailants detonated explosives at the main gate before attempting to storm the compound.
According to the military’s media wing, Rangers personnel repelled the assault after a gun battle. Security forces killed three attackers and captured a fourth after he was wounded.
Senior Superintendent of Police Irfan Bahadur said investigators had identified four stages of the operation: planning in Afghanistan, infiltrating the attackers into Pakistan, arranging local logistical support, and supplying weapons and suicide vests before directing the assault from across the border.
Bahadur said investigators believed 13 people took part in the operation. He alleged that a network involving Saeed Shah, Ahsanullah, Liaqat and others supplied weapons, while another six-member group, including Rahim Afridi, helped smuggle arms into Pakistan.
He said Bashir had travelled from Pakistan to Afghanistan to coordinate the attack before returning to Karachi. Rangers later arrested him, and he admitted his role during questioning, Bahadur said.
Investigators said the attackers entered Pakistan through Balochistan before travelling to Hub and then Karachi by road. They stayed in rented accommodation arranged by Bashir, according to the CTD.
Bahadur said investigators recovered videos from Bashir’s mobile phone that allegedly showed preparations for the attack, including footage of the militants before they left for the operation.
Home Minister Lanjar said four militants attacked a Rangers transport facility in Karachi with the aim of taking hostages and causing mass casualties.
He said three attackers were Afghan nationals, while the fourth came from Pakistan’s Bajaur district but had lived in Afghanistan for about 20 years. All of their handlers operated from Afghanistan and directed the attack from there, he alleged.
Lanjar said security forces foiled the attack, killing three militants and capturing one alive. Investigators later dismantled the network that allegedly supported the assault, he added.
The surviving attacker, identified as Usman, told investigators he had been recruited from a religious seminary in Afghanistan and trained at two militant camps before entering Pakistan, Lanjar said. Police also played a recording of his alleged confession.
Sindh Inspector General of Police Javed Alam Odho said the province had recorded seven terrorist attacks so far this year, down from 37 during the same period last year. He said security forces had arrested about 75 suspected militants, while others were killed in counterterrorism operations.
Additional Inspector General CTD Zulfiqar Lark said all militants directly involved in the Karachi attack had either been killed or arrested. Investigators were now working to dismantle the wider support network, he said.
In a statement issued after the attack, the military’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said three Rangers personnel were killed and four others wounded in the exchange of fire.
The military identified the attackers as members of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar. It said one of them, Janan, was an Afghan national and a suicide bomber. Another attacker came from Bajaur, while Umar Farooq was from Afghanistan’s Kunar province. Usman was captured alive after being wounded during the operation.
Following the attack, Pakistan carried out airstrikes inside Afghanistan. Pakistani officials said the strikes destroyed a Jamaat-ul-Ahrar headquarters and killed several militants. Afghan authorities have previously rejected similar Pakistani claims and condemned cross-border strikes.
