Karachi Police Office attack investigators suspect assailants received 'inside help'

Investigators are looking into the possibility that the attack on the Karachi Police Office (KPO) on the evening of Friday was an inside job. According to DIG-South Irfan Ali Baloch who spoke to Pakistani news outlet Dawn, the probe team is evaluating whether the rampage was orchestrated by insiders.

Although a case has been filed against the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakis­tan which took responsibility for the hours-long gun battle, authorities are unsure about the facilitators who helped the militant trio that barged into the office and claimed five lives. “We are looking into the matter from different angles. The point from where the militants cut barbed wire and made an entry was not covered by CCTV cameras,” said Baloch, who is a member of the probe body looking into the gunmen attack.

Baloch said that footage extracted from surveillance cameras displayed two unidentified men in helmets watching the three assailants outside the police office. The first information report (FIR) filed by Saddar SHO Khalid Memon stated that the trio arrived at the location in a car and were followed by the two men on a motorcycle.

What does the FIR say? 

It further added that when the militants stepped out of their vehicle, the motorcyclists “indicated them towards the KPO, hugged them and rode away." The duo then left the scene on a motorcycle shortly before the attack occurred at 7.10 pm local time on Friday. Meanwhile, the identity of the third militant is yet to be ascertained, according to Baloch. 

Among the victims is policeman Abdul Latif, who died while seeking treatment for injuries at a hospital on Sunday. Others killed in the attack were two policemen, one sanitation worker, and one Rangers official. 17 others were also wounded in the gun battle, which ended with two militants being shot and the third one blowing himself up in the building.