ISLAMABAD: The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province said on Monday it had foiled a major attack in the port city of Karachi planned by members of the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) militant outfit.
CTD Sindh Deputy Inspector General Ghulam Azfar Mahesar said law enforcement agencies recently received information from internal and external intelligence sources that “terrorists” were preparing explosive material at a location they had rented about 35–40 kilometers from Karachi. He said the explosives were intended to be used to carry out attacks at various locations across the city.
He said Pakistan’s intelligence agencies, the Special Branch, the Intelligence Bureau, CTD Sindh, and CTD Balochistan coordinated to formulate a strategy under which various personnel were deployed at multiple locations in Karachi, with particular focus on the city’s western region.
“After several days of effort, authorities succeeded in obtaining information about a secret hideout of terrorists in Rais Goth, Karachi, where the terrorists had prepared a large quantity of explosives and other destructive material,” Mahesar told reporters at a news conference in Karachi.
He said that acting on this information, CTD Sindh and a premier intelligence agency’s personnel conducted a joint raid on the hideout. The raid resulted in the arrest of one “terrorist” while three to four accomplices managed to flee, he said.
