KARACHI - A raid on an apartment complex in the port city of Karachi on Monday was a training exercise carried out by anti-terrorist forces, the interior minister said. Witnesses saw a military helicopter landing at a complex under construction in Karachi's eastern Gulistan-e-Johar neighbourhood as troops cordoned off the area and prevented people from entering. "It was a mock exercise," Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao told Reuters. "It is an anti-terrorist exercise carried out by law enforcement agencies." | "Just a exercise. Nothing to see. Move along." |
Provincial government spokesman Salahuddin Haider had said "a major operation" had been carried out by the military, but later clarified that it had been an exercise. An intelligence official said earlier the raid could have been aimed at trying to capture an important Al Qaeda figure, but gave no details. | Either it was a exercise, or they just bagged a really big fish and are trying to keep it quiet. |
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