KARACHI: Police claim to have arrested a senior member of Al Qaeda who was allegedly supplying explosives for terrorist activities in Karachi.

“Baloch Colony police have arrested Adil Azeem Sheikh and found a Kalashnikov and two hand-grenades in his possession,” SSP South Munir Ahmed Sheikh said on Friday.

He said at a press conference the militant was the ‘right hand’ of Talat Hussain, the ‘supervisor’ of Al Qaeda’s Sindh and Balochistan chapter. He brought explosives from Balochistan and provided them to terrorists in Karachi. The SSP claimed that Sheikh had received training in the Afghan province of Kunar.

Sheikh told interrogators that Talat Hussain had asked him to carry out the bombing at the homecoming caravan of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in Karachi in 2007, but he refused to do so. The task was then given to “Azeem and Rehan” who have since been missing.

According to the SSP, Sheikh also disclosed that Al Qaeda had carried out the attack on the ISI office in Sukkur. Fifteen to 20 militants took part in the attack to avenge the detention of several Al Qaeda men by the intelligence agency in Hyderabad, Sukkur, Nawabshah and Dera Ghazi Khan.

‘GANGSTER’ KILLED: Meanwhile, Rangers killed on Friday a suspected gangster in an alleged encounter in Lyari. Abdul Jabbar alias Langra was killed during a targeted operation in Singhu Lane area of Chakiwara, SP Lyari Shahnawaz said. The body was taken to the Jinnah Post-Graduate Medical Centre.

The SP said Langra was wanted in 31 cases of murder, extortion and other crimes.

According to police, the Sindh government had announced a reward of Rs0.5 million for information leading to his arrest.