Authorities nab Ansarul Shariah members from Multan, Quetta

KARACHI: A suspected terrorist belonging to militant outfit Ansarul Shariah was taken into custody by intelligence agencies during a police raid in Multan early Thursday, Geo News reported citing sources.

The detained suspect, identified as Abdul Rehman alias Talha Ansari, was hiding in Multan's Delhi Gate area after fleeing from Karachi, where police have been actively conducting a crackdown against the group, sources said. 

Sources said Ansari is the group's specialist in target killings and was called in for special assignments. He is also said to be a close associate of Sarosh Siddiqui, a senior leader of the group presently on the run from authorities. 

Ansarul Shariah came to the forefront when evidence was found and arrests were made after the attack on Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan leader Khawaja Izharul Hassan last week.

Sources further informed that many of Ansari’s accomplices have already been arrested in Karachi. 

The detained suspect, meanwhile, has been taken to an undisclosed location for further interrogation.

Information obtained from the arrested suspects has revealed that before the formation of the militant group, the members were also in contact with Daesh.

Members of both organisations had trained in Afghanistan, it was also revealed. 

Raids in Balochistan

In separate raids carried out in Quetta and Pishin, two more suspected terrorists of Ansarul Shariah were arrested by law enforcement agencies.

One of the suspects, Mufti Habibullah, is a teacher at a Hyderabad seminary. Sources said authorities there have conducted a raid at his house and seized a laptop other materials.

Habibullah was nabbed by the agencies from Pishin.

Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) said Mufti Habibullah, who is under custody over suspicions of his ties with Ansarul Shariah, is the deputy chief of the party in Hyderabad and he has nothing to do with any terror outfit.

Speaking at a press conference in Hyderabad, JUI-F Sindh chapter leaders, Azam Jahangiri and Abdul Malik Talpur, said Mufti Habibullah has been teaching at two seminaries in SITE and Gulshan-e-Khair Mohammad and he has been recommended as the party's candidate from NA-219 Hyderabad-II for the next general election.

They said the JUI-F condemns all kinds of terror activities, including the attack on Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader Khawaja Izharul Hassan, which led investigators busting Ansarul Shariah.

The other suspect, Mushtaq, was nabbed from Quetta. He is said to be a teacher at the Balochistan University of Information Technology, Engineering and Management Science.

Earlier this week, the head of Ansarul Shariah in Pakistan was arrested from Karachi’s Kaneez Fatima society, in a major breakthrough against the organisation linked to several recent attacks in the city.

The terrorist, Sheheryar, who went by the alias Dr Abdullah Hashmi, worked as an IT expert in the computer department of NED University. He had received his Master’s degree in Applied Physics from the University of Karachi, according to sources. 

Karachi police are still hunting for Siddiqui, the alleged mastermind of the attack on the MQM leader. Siddiqui, a student of applied physics at Karachi University, managed to escape a police raid on Monday night.

The incident has brought to fore the presence of several terrorists with educated backgrounds as one of the slain attackers of the MQM leader, Hassaan, was well-educated and employed at Dawood University of Engineering and Technology.