KARACHI: Pakistan’s counterterrorism police said on Thursday they had arrested two suspected militants linked to the Zainabiyoun Brigade, a group Islamabad banned last year for alleged involvement in sectarian and other activities “prejudicial to national security.”
Pakistan banned the Zainabiyoun Brigade in March 2024, designating it a ‘terrorist’ outfit after intelligence assessments found it posed a threat to national security. Islamabad says the group, composed mainly of Pakistani Shia fighters, is backed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
According to the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA), the group became the 79th entity on Pakistan’s list of proscribed organizations. The US Treasury Department sanctioned the Zainabiyoun Brigade in January 2019, citing its role in “recruiting and deploying Pakistani fighters to Syria” under IRGC direction.
Ghulam Azfar Mahesar, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), said the two arrested suspects, identified as Israr Hussain Gilgiti and Masoom Raza, also known as Amirullah and Imran Mota, were detained during an intelligence-based operation in Karachi. They were also listed in the CTD’s Red Book of most wanted suspects.
“Two terrorists have been arrested and primarily they belong to the Zainabiyoun Brigade, and they are involved in the sectarian killing of members of a religious party,” Ghulam told Arab News after a press conference in Karachi, without naming the group.
When asked if the militants had received training abroad, the CTD official confirmed they had been trained in a “neighboring country,” without naming the nation.
“They are active members of that organization, and we have proof that they have been trained and have been visiting a neighboring country,” he said, adding that the main shooter, Masoom, traveled there about 20 days ago.
“This is a network which was being run by the neighboring country.”
Mahesar said two 9mm pistols and two hand grenades were recovered from the suspects, who are currently under interrogation.
“We have identified their facilitators and other gang members who are present in Karachi,” he added, noting that the department had conducted 32 intelligence-based operations in recent weeks, with more arrests expected.
The DIG said the Zainabiyoun network continued to operate in Karachi but was being systematically dismantled.
“We now have their names and addresses. Raids are under way in coordination with other agencies to arrest remaining members,” he said, confirming that Pakistan would also raise the matter through official diplomatic and security channels.
“Whenever we have some network which is operated across [the border], there is a standard procedure that we put across our demands and wanted list. That will be done,” he said.
Security agencies have previously arrested several militants associated with the outfit, particularly in Karachi, Parachinar, Quetta, and Gilgit-Baltistan, regions identified as key recruitment hubs for the group.
In January 2024, Sindh CTD officials apprehended Syed Muhammad Mehdi, another suspected Zainabiyoun member allegedly involved in the 2019 assassination attempt on top cleric Mufti Taqi Usmani.
Earlier, in July 2022, then-interior minister Rana Sanaullah Khan told the Senate that Zainabiyoun members were “actively involved in terrorist activities” between 2019 and 2021.
