11 militants arrested in Pakistan's Karachi

KARACHI: Eleven militants, including five ISIS terrorists, were arrested on Monday in Karachi, the capital of Pakistan's southern Sindh province, officials said.

Police conducted a raid on a compound in Karachi's Taiser Town on the basis of intelligence reports and arrested five ISIS terrorists, a senior police official said.

The suspects were identified as Abdullah, alias Hamza, Waqar, Waseem, Naveed and Mudassir, he added.

The official said that jihadi literature, weapons, hand grenades and bullets were recovered from their hideout.

The suspects would indoctrinate people over social media and give them various offers to join the group, he added.

The ISIS Saturday claimed responsibility for a suicide attack that killed 21 people and wounded more than 50 others in Quetta, the provincial capital of restive Balochistan province, in an attack believed to be targeting the minority Hazara Shia community.

The Pakistani officials have repeatedly denied the presence of the ISIS in the country, but the Middle Eastern terror group has claimed a number of attacks in the past.

In a separate operation, the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) arrested six militants, including a serving policeman, who were affiliated with a banned sectarian outfit, officials said.

"All six suspects are affiliated with Sipah-e-Muhammad and have received their training abroad and were paid through a network which mainly targeted members of their supposed rival sect," CTD Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Abdullah Shaikh said.

Some of the arrested suspects' names were included in the 'Red Book' of the most wanted suspects, he said.

Shaikh said the initial investigations had revealed that the suspects were paid around Rs 60,000 per month through a network from abroad.

The suspects had been involved in the killings of 50 people between 2003 and 2019 in Karachi on sectarian grounds and mainly targeted members of their supposed rival sect, he added.