Five-member committee to probe Karachi Police Office attack

• Sindh CTD DIGP Zulfiqar Ali Larik will head probe committee.
• Flaws have been identified in security arrangements.
• Attack led to martydorm of four people, three terrorist were killed.

KARACHI: Sindh Inspector General of Police (IG) Ghulam Nabi on Saturday constituted a five-member committee to probe the terrorist attack on the office of the Karachi police chief a day earlier.

Three militants were killed and four people, including two policemen and a Sindh Rangers sub-inspector, embraced martyrdom in the nerve-racking operation that lasted for nearly four hours on Friday evening.

Eighteen other people, including police and Rangers personnel, were also injured in the terror attack, which occurred after a deadly suicide attack at a Peshawar Civil Lines mosque that left 84 dead.

Flaws have been identified in security arrangements at the Karachi Police Office (KPO) — a centrally located building on the city’s main artery — Sharea Faisal.

Sources privy to the matter said that intelligence agencies had already expressed their concerns over the security arrangements at the CPO. 

“A committee with the following composition is hereby constituted to enquire into the incident of attack on Karachi Police Office and supervise the investigations of the case," according to a statement issued by the office of the Sindh IG.

Sindh Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIGP) Zulfiqar Ali Larik will head the committee while other members of the body include Karachi South Zone DIGP Irfan Ali Baloch, Crime Investigation Agency DIGP Muhammad Karim Khan, Karachi CTD Operations Senior Superintendent of Police Tariq Nawaz and Karachi CTD Investigation Incharge Raja Umer Khitab.

The chairman of the committee can co-opt any other member required for conducting investigations, read the statement. 

It is pertinent to mention here that the banned outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed the responsibility for the attack.

Security lapses

According to Geo News, there is no security gate to enter Police Lines Saddar where families of policemen are residing.

Sources said that terrorists allegedly entered KPO by climbing the rear wall and the three security checkposts at the city police chief’s office were not manned at the time of the attack.

"Barbed wire, on the rear wall of the KPO, was also cut," they said, adding there are no CCTV cameras installed to monitor the building from the Shahrae Faisal side.

Talking exclusively to Geo News on Friday, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said that a general security threat exists following the terror attack in Peshawar. 

“All the institutions are fully alert across the country,” he added.

The security czar stressed the need for taking further steps to counter the fresh wave of terrorism.

Details of ammunition

Per Geo News, two sub-machine guns (SMGs) were seized, but the serial number from one of them was erased. A Kalashnikov, with a red-coloured grip, was also recovered. Four hand grenades, with ejected pins, were also seized from the terrorists.

Another hand grenade was also seized from the militant who blew himself up, while two jackets, a high number of ball bearings, and edible items were also recovered.

All the items were later sent for forensics.