Uch Sharif

BAHAWALPUR, March 2: Uch Sharif police claim to have arrested five suspected militants allegedly involved in several bomb blasts, murders and a robbery, recovering illegal arms including suicide jackets from their possession.

Regional Police Officer Syed Abid Qadri told a press conference here on Wednesday the accused were previously linked with a banned sectarian outfit.

He said accused Riaz Ahmed alias Zeeshan alias Jaffer and Hafiz Abdul Hamid alias Hafiz belonged to Rahim Yar Khan, Ghulam Muhammad alias Zubair alias Aamir to Rajanpur, Imdadullah to Rukanpur and Muhammad Asghar alias Abdullah to Shahr Sultan, Muzzaffargarh district, had confessed to their involvement in the suicide attack at an Imambargah (Shia mosque) near NIPA Churangi, Karachi, in 2005 in which several policemen and civilians were killed.

He said the accused trained suicide bombers and were experts in making explosive jackets which had been recovered from their possession.

Besides, he said, the accused were also involved in the murder of Habibullah Jajja, a jail deputy superintendent of Rahim Yar Khan, committed on Feb 17, 2010, killing of Taqi Shah in Pucca Laran police precincts, RY Khan district, on Aug 1, 2005, a robbery in Umar Kote and the murder of Amir Baksh, a former sectarian activist, in the precincts of Nowshehra Jadid police station, Bahawalpur district.

The RPO said the suspects had planned murders of Tehrik-i-Jafria head Allama Sajid Naqvi, master Karam Husain Shah of Pipli Rajan, Saqlain Shah alias Dugga Sain of Uch Sharif and Musa Raza of Rajanpur.

He said accused Asghar and Imdadullah had also planned attacks on Imambargahs at Hussaini Chowk in Satellite Town, Bahawalpur and Mailsi.

Two Kalashnikovs, as many pistols, a rocket shell and other illegal weapons were recovered from the suspects, he added, saying six separate cases had been registered against them.