Pukhtoon militants who fought against the US-led invasion of Afghanistan have formed a new anti-Shia militant group, according to investigators inquiring into the assassination of Shia leader Allama Hassan Turabi. Sources told Daily Times that Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) officials had learnt of the new group from interrogations of three men arrested for suspicion of involvement in the prominent Shia cleric’s murder in Karachi. The FIA team, headed by its director general, Tariq Pervaiz, has sent a report to the Interior Ministry detailing its findings.The suspects - Sultan Mehmood alias Saifullah and Muslim, Mohammad Amin alias Khalid and Abdullah, and Mohammad Rehman alias Mani – told investigators the group was planning suicide attacks against Shia leaders, says the report. The new militant group is led by Mufti Ilyas and Hazrat Ali of Darra Adam Khel. Its members include men who recently fought against US forces in Afghanistan, and have links with Abdullah Mehsud, the militant leader responsible for the attack on Chinese engineers at the Gomal Zam Dam site, and other militants from Waziristan and Afghanistan. It also includes some women members.
The report says that the new group has no links with any other militant organisation, including the banned sectarian group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, and is active in Quetta, Karachi and other major cities in Pakistan. It also says the group has established a supply line of weapons and ammunition between Darra Adam Khel and Karachi.
The Interior Ministry has directed the provincial chief secretaries and Islamabad chief commissioner to identify members of the group operating in their areas. Security officials in Waziristan and other tribal areas have also been put on alert, the sources said. The ministry has asked the special investigation group of the FIA in Peshawar to collect information about Mufti Ilyas and Hazrat Ali, and investigate their possible links with other militant groups in the country, the sources added.