Police arrest two members of ‘Iran-backed’ Zainabiyoun Brigade in Karachi

KARACHI: The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of the Pakistani port city of Karachi said on Tuesday police had arrested two members of the Zainabiyoun Brigade, a militant group that was placed on the US Treasury’s financial blacklist in January 2019 and comprises Pakistani Shias fighting in Syria and Iran.
“We have arrested two militants who were involved in acts of killings between 2007 and 2013,” CTD chief Omar Shahid told Arab News, adding: “These militants got training in the neighboring country of Iran.”
Iran has not responded to the CTD’s statements.
Shahid said the arrests were part of police and intelligence agencies’ investigations into the killing of a religious cleric, Maulana Adil Khan, in Karachi two months ago.
A press release issued by the Counter Terrorism Department said two militants associated with the Agha Hasan Group of the Sipah-e-Muhammad’s Zainabiyoun Brigade had been arrested from Karachi’s Qur’angi neighborhood. An investigation had revealed that the group was also involved in the killing of Yousuf Ludhianvi and Nizamuddin Shamzai, two high-profile clerics, in Karachi, the CTD said.
On November 27, 2020, the Associated Press reported 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 in military action by the Turkish army and Syrian forces in a major rebel stronghold in the northwest of the war-torn Arab country.