Serial killer of Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, reponsible for Chuch massacre, killed in encounter in Bahawalpur
11-3-2002
BAHAWALPUR, March 11: Shakil Anwar alias Zahid alias Mustafa of the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, who carried a Rs1.3 million bounty on his head, was killed on Monday in a 'shootout' with the police.
Bahawalpur SSP Sikandar Hayat told a press conference here that the deceased was involved in several terrorist attacks and high profile murders. These, he said, included the massacre in St Dominican Church (more) in October 2001, attack on Khana-i-Farhang-i-Iran (more), Multan, and former minister of state Siddique Kanjoo's (more) murder.
The SSP said Inspector Naveed Ikram had led the CIA party that intercepted the white pick-up Hasilpur-Chakkiwala road at around midnight. He said Shakil Anwar had fired at the police but was injured in the exchange of fire. He later died from the injuries at the Khairpur Tamewali Tehsil Headquarters Hospital. He said Nazim Shahid Durrani, the CIA SP, had supervised the operation.
None of the policemen was injured in the firing. A Kalashnikov rifle, a .31 bore pistol and 14 fake number plates were recovered from his the white pick-up (LXW-2364) which he said had been snatched from a United Nations agency.
He said Shakil Anwar, son of Muhammad Sharif, caste Arain, a resident of Mohallah Diggi of Fort Abbas in Bahawalnagar district, had been an associate of Lashkar-i-Jhangvi's Riaz Basra and Malik Ishaque. He said an accomplice, Qari Allah Wasaya, had disclosed and Kashif, held for Siddique Kanjoo's murder, had confirmed Shakil's role in the attacks. The fax message claiming responsibility for the church attack, he said, had been in Shakil's handwriting. This, he said, had been established by comparing it with a letter he had written to Malik Ishaque.
The SSP said the deceased was also involved in the following crimes: murder of Gujranwala SSP Ashraf Marth (more), murder of nine people in Khairpur Tamewali in a single attack, killing of former MPA Muhammad Aslam Joya and Azhar Joya in Lodhran, murder of Inspector Sajjad Haider Zaidi in Bahawalpur, murder of Mazhar Husain Khameni in Chishtian, murder of Advocate Mumtazul Hasan in Haroonabad, murder of Sibtain Raza and Baqar Zaidi in Multan, a Shia shopkeeper's murder in Khairpur, a robbery in Ahmadpur East in which Rs8.1 million were taken away and a man was killed.
The deceased, the SSP said, had snatched a number of vehicles including a double-cabin pick up from near Shorkot. The body has been shifted to Bahawal Victoria Hospital.
Terrorists' network broken: IGP
LAHORE, March 11: Punjab IGP Malik Asif Hayat claimed on Monday that the killing of an activist of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi had broken its network not only in southern Punjab but in the other parts of the country.
Shakil, alias Mustafa, was the most wanted man on the sectarian front after Riaz Basra, the IGP said. "It will help us in tracking down the other wanted sectarian militants," he claimed.
"The killed militant was allegedly involved in more than 20 sect-motivated attacks which had claimed 38 lives in different parts of the country." The police located Shakil on the information of his accomplice Kashif Imran who was arrested in connection with the murder of ex-federal minister Saddiq Kanju, the IGP said.
RAWALPINDI KILLINGS: The IGP claimed that they had traced six suspects in Rawalpindi killings (more). The suspects belonged to the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, Mr Asif said, adding that raids were being carried out to arrest them.
MUHARRAM: Army troops, the Pakistan Rangers, Punjab and Frontier constabularies will be called out in case of an untoward situation in Muharram, said the IGP. For the arrest of religious activists during Muharram, the IGP said that only those who would violate law would be detained. The police would give names to the Punjab government of religious leaders to seek their arrest, he added. "Police force performing duties at different training schools and other places had been withdrawn for Muharram duty."