KARACHI: Pakistan’s counterterrorism force killed three terrorists affiliated with the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), including the mastermind behind the November 2024 attack on Chinese engineers in Karachi, during a counterterrorism operation on Monday in the city’s Manghopir district, officials said.
The operation, jointly conducted by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) and intelligence agencies, targeted a house where the terrorists were hiding, CTD officials said. Authorities said the terrorists were involved in a series of attacks and were plotting further violence.
During the raid, an intense exchange of gunfire occurred between the law enforcement agencies and the terrorists, who opened fire from inside the house.
On November 5 last year, two Chinese nationals were shot at and wounded by a private security guard in a textile mill in Karachi’s SITE area. At that time, investigators had suspected that it was a targeted attack.
Following the incident, Pakistan’s Foreign Office said in a statement that the attack was being probed, adding that Pakistan was committed to the safety and security of Chinese nationals, projects, and institutions in the country.
A first information report (FIR) was registered against the security guard who had fled after the incident.
“A terrorist who masterminded an attack on Chinese engineers in November last year has been killed during an operation in Karachi’s Manghopir area,” Additional Inspector-General of Police, Counter-Terrorism Department Azad Khan said as quoted by Dawn.com.
The Additional Inspector-General said the killed terrorist was identified as Zafran, while two of his accomplices were also killed in the operation.
Speaking to the media outside Civil Hospital, CTD In-charge DSP Raja Umar Khattab said that the operation was jointly carried out by the CTD and personnel of intelligence agencies.
The DSP said that two of the killed terrorists were identified as Zafran and Qudratullah. The identification process for the third terrorist is ongoing.
“The teams raided a house in the Manghopir area and killed the terrorists during an operation,” he said. “They belonged to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).”
Zafran was a high-value target with a Rs20 million bounty placed on his head by the government.
The DSP said that one of the killed terrorists was a suicide bomber, and the banned group was responsible for an attack on Chinese nationals in Pakistan last year.
The CTD recovered a significant cache of weapons from the site Faulkner, including three grenades, a Kalashnikov, suicide jackets, and other arms. A diary containing a list of potential targets was also seized from the terrorists.
Pakistan has witnessed a surge in terrorist activities, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, after the TTP ended its ceasefire with the government in November 2022.
Attacks have predominantly targeted the police, law enforcement agencies’ personnel, and security forces. However, Chinese nationals have also been targeted inside Pakistan over the last couple of years.
According to a report by the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) published in 2024, 20 Chinese citizens have been killed and 34 injured in terrorist attacks in the country since 2021.
In October 2024, a suicide attack near Karachi airport, claimed by the outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), left two Chinese citizens dead and injured ten others.
In March 2024, Chinese workers were targeted in KP’s Besham, reportedly carried out by affiliates of either the TTP or Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K), resulting in five Chinese fatalities.
At least four people, including three Chinese nationals, were killed while four others were injured in a suicide attack outside the University of Karachi’s (KU) Confucius Institute in 2022.
