KARACHI: Director General of Sindh Rangers Maj Gen Mohammad Saeed said on Saturday that an Al-Qaeda member formed Ansarul Shariah. 

Speaking at a news channel, Major General Saeed said that the students affiliated with Ansarul Shariah did not come from any one specific university.

He said well-educated students from different academic institutes were members of the group, adding as many as three members of the group have Masters degree in Applied Physics.

Maj Gen Saeed reiterated that no security institution including Sindh Rangers have demanded student records from Karachi University.

Maj Gen Saeed said that as an intensive operation is underway against the militant group the paramilitary cannot share further information about the group.

He said that as many as seven members of the group have been arrested and according to the initial investigation the militant group was limited only to Karachi.

The paramilitary chief informed that Ansarul Shariah was focused on attacking police personnel and the authorities have identified the target-killers of the group.

The paramilitary chief urged parents to keep an eye on the activities of their children as parents of the two group members had no idea of what activities their son was involved in. He added that the teachers must take into account why students are being attracted towards radical ideas

The group has been involved in multiple terrorism incidents in Karachi and Mastung, security sources have said.

The group first made headlines in Karachi in April this year in the targeted killing of a retired army colonel.

Police officials also believe the group is behind several attacks on police officials in Karachi in the past few months and an IED blast targeting security forces in Mastung.

The outfit was not inspired by Daesh’s ideology, but instead, it was influenced by al Qaeda’s Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. Initially, it did operate under Daesh’s umbrella, however, differences led to the parting of the ways later.

The group comprises of militants from Al Qaeda subcontinent, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and Daesh, sources said.—INP