https://arab.news/zbk9g
- Pakistan militants ‘trained in Iran,’ says Counter Terrorism Department chief Omar Shahid
KARACHI: Pakistani police have arrested two members of the Zainabiyoun Brigade militant group in connection with a string of killings in the six years up to 2013.
Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) chief Omar Shahid told Arab News that both militants had received training in Iran.
The Zainabiyoun Brigade was placed on the US Treasury’s financial blacklist in January 2019, and includes Pakistani Shiites fighting in Syria and Iran.
Theran has not responded to the CTD’s claims.
Shahid said the arrests followed police and intelligence agencies’ investigations into the killing of a cleric, Maulana Adil Khan, in Karachi two months ago.
The CTD said that the two militants associated with the Agha Hasan group of Sipah-e-Muhammad’s Zainabiyoun Brigade had been arrested in Karachi’s Qur’angi neighborhood.
An investigation revealed that the group was also involved in the killing of two high-profile clerics, Yousuf Ludhianvi and Nizamuddin Shamzai, in Karachi.
On Nov. 27, an AP report said that Pakistanis were among 19 pro-Iran militia fighters killed in eastern Syria.
In March, a senior Pakistani official told Arab News that up to 50 Pakistani fighters were killed by Turkish army and Syrian forces in a major rebel stronghold in the northwest of the country.