Pakistan police nab LeJ men involved in Shia killings

Lahore, April 18: Six "target killers" of Sunni sectarian group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) involved in a number of deadly attacks on Shia leaders in Pakistan were today paraded before the media here.

"We have broken the terror network of LeJ in Punjab province and arrested their six target killers who assassinated at least 18 people, mostly Shia leaders in Lahore and other districts of the province," Lahore police chief Shafiq Ahmed Gujjar said at a press conference here.

"Some other target killers of LeJ are on the run and we soon will arrest them. It has been a great success of the law enforcement agencies and we hope that the arrest of these target killers would help overcome the spate of sectarianism in the province," he said.

The police chief further said the accused killed some Sunni leaders too due to "personal issues". Gujjar said the accused claimed to have attacked TV anchor Raza Rumi for his anti-LeJ views last month. The arrested killers are Abdur Rauf, Sabir Shah, Sheikh Farhan, Shafat Farooqi, Salman Pathan and Muhammad Hashim.

Police said the LeJ accused had killed many Shia leaders including Shabiul Hasan, Syed Abbas Shah, Shakir Ali Rizvi, Ali Haider and his 11-year-old son Murtaza, advocate Arshad Ali Shah, Allama Mubashir Hasan Naqvi, Allama Nasir Abbas Multani, Ali Hasan Qazalbash and Ghulam Raza Jaffery.

Sunni leader Maulana Shamasur Rehman Mauvia was also assassinated by the accused. Famous play-wright Asghar Nadeem Syed was also targeted by them. However he survived the attack.

LeJ is one of the most active terror groups in Pakistan and is responsible for a string of attacks on Shias.

It is also blamed for two deadly bombings targeting Shia Hazaras in Balochistan that killed over 200 people last year.

PTI