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Members of the Bomb Disposal Squad sit near hand grenades, which were found near a police training centre on Tuesday. reuters

* Rangers personnel injured in grenade attack in separate incident

By Faraz Khan

KARACHI: Terrorist activities are gaining momentum in the city as the Sindh police foiled a major terror activity on Tuesday, just days before Eidul Fitr, while in another incident, three Rangers personnel were injured in a hand grenade attack .

Prior to these two incidents, an attempt to carry out a terrorist attack at the Keamari oilfield was foiled on Monday night.

As per details, a massive cache of arms, hidden in ladies handbags and polythene bags, was found in a stormwater drain near the Saeedabad Police Training Centre (SPTC) after the police searched the place on a tip-off.

Police officials found nine rocket launchers along with five rockets, five anti-tank guns, magazines, seven hand grenades and a Kalashnikov in the bag. The Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) defused the suicide jackets containing five kilogrammes of explosive material.

It is worth mentioning here that the police training centre is located on the main RCD highway that goes towards Balochistan.

Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Karachi Waseem Ahmed told Daily Times said that the recovery of the huge cache of arms is good news for the citizens and the credit for this goes to the Karachi police because all this has been achieved due to the coactive policy of the police. There is no doubt that this was the same group that wanted to attack the oil refinery in the Keamari area as the police have found the same type of modus operandi, he added.

“The ladies handbags and cloaks found from the drain indicate that the culprits, who had thrown the explosives, are involved in the incident of Keamari oilfield,” Ahmed explained.

Replying to a question, he said the recovery of such arms has confirmed that the Taliban are present in the city with huge cache of arms and explosives. To deal with such terrorists, the police should be on high alert and extreme degree of vigilance, he added.

The CCPO, quoting the intelligence agencies’ reports, said that the Taliban are present in the city and they may be doing anything at anytime anywhere, but the citizens should not worry as the police are on high alert.

Saeedabad DSP Ghulam Fareed said that may be the Taliban wanted to attack the training centre, but it is premature to say anything as to what was the target of the terrorists. It is clear that they wanted to create a major terror activity in the city, but they dumped the heavy cache of arms and fled due to fear of police snap checking near the Saeedabad training centre. A case has been registered, the DSP added.

Meanwhile, at least four culprits on two motorbikes attacked a Rangers’ picket near A-O clinic, Nazimabad No 7, in the remit of Nazimabad police station. As a result, three Rangers’ personnel named Ashraf, Zafar and Shareef sustained minor injuries, who were later discharged from the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. Police officials quoted the BDS officials as saying that the culprits used hand grenade in the attack. The police have registered FIR No 303/09 under Section 324/explosive act against unknown persons on behalf of Ashraf.

Sindh Home Minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza has cautioned that the terrorists ousted from Swat and Malakand division after successful operation were entering into big cities for subversive activities. He stated this while addressing a press conference along with Ahmed at his office on Tuesday.

The minister claimed that police had foiled a major terrorist plot in Karachi. “We are fully aware of heightening threats of possible terror activity in Sindh in the aftermath of operation against militants in Swat and Malakand. Terrorists had planned to destroy peace in the Sindh province, but their designs were foiled in a strategic manner by the law enforcers.”

He asserted that law enforcement agencies were on high alert to cope with any untoward incident and information sharing network of intelligence agencies had been reactive.

“No terrorist activity can be materialised on our soil,” he vowed and added that the Sindh police had killed six high profile terrorists in Sindh, besides 60 well-trained terrorists were arrested. He suggested the promotion of BDS staff, which foiled the possible terrorist plot at Saeedabad police training centre.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...009_pg12_1