QUETTA - Pakistan-based Jundallah Amir Arif alias Saqib was reportedly killed on Friday by Rangers.
The Rangers sources said their crews operating in Hub killed on Friday the amir of Pakistan-based Jundallah, an outlawed outfit Arif. Arif alias Saqib was mastermind of suicide explosions in Balochistan.
“He was amir of Jundallah group in Pakistan and was manipulating subversive activities jointly with Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and Islamic State (IS) in the country,” revealed the sources. A huge quantity of explosive materials along with arms was also recovered.
Apart from Pakistan, the Jundallah amir was also most wanted in Iran in scores of subversive activities, the sources said.
“Acting upon a tip off by intelligence agencies, Rangers’ anti-terrorist force Thursday night conducted an operation at a suspected militant hideout in the Hub area of Balochistan,” read a statement issued by a Rangers spokesperson, reported a private TV channel.
“During the exchange of fire, the Jundallah chief and nominated deputy chief of Tehreek-e-Taliban Sindh, Saqib alias Arif alias Anjum, was killed,” the statement added.
The Rangers spokesperson also revealed that the Jundallah chief along with members of Al-Qaeda, Jamaatul Ahrar and Islamic State was involved in several high-profile terror acts.
Some of them were allegedly involved in various terror activities, including an attack on the vehicle of the then Karachi Corps Commander Lt-Gen Ahsan Saleem, a suicide hit on Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman in Quetta, assassination of chief security officer of former president Asif Ali Zardari, Bilal Sheikh and attack on a church and members of minority communities.
The Rangers statement also claimed that the killed militant was planning major terror attacks on Rangers’ headquarters and the SSU headquarters in Karachi.
The paramilitary force also recovered explosives from the suspect’s house, which was being used as a factory for preparing improvised explosive devices (IEDs), claimed the spokesperson.
The Rangers also claimed to have recovered huge quantity of automatic weapons, ammunition and hand grenades.
TWO TERRORISTS KILLED IN PANJGUR
Two terrorists were killed and a security personnel injured during operation of the Frontier Corps (FC) and sensitive agencies against the extremists in Panjgur on Friday.
FC spokesman said the paramilitary force in collaboration with sensitive agencies conducted a joint operation against militants in Panjgur district. During operation two terrorists were killed, another injured while one security personnel was also wounded in the firing exchange.
The security personnel recovered arms and explosives from the possession of the terrorists. The injured FC was man shifted to a hospital for treatment.
Meanwhile, eight operatives of the banned outfit were detained on Friday after exchange of fire with security forces.
According to FC Balochistan spokesman, law-enforcing agencies apprehended eight terrorists of BLF and recovered RPG7 rockets, five rifles, explosive materials, IEDs, 63kg hashish and communication instruments from their custody.
SHARIF KHAN/Agencies
