A terrorist involved in the Rangers camp attack in Karachi says he was trained in Afghanistan. Security sources told Dawn that the captured militant revealed he came to Pakistan from Jalalabad approximately one week before the assault.
That timeline means the attack was planned, resourced, and launched from Afghan soil within seven days. The militant crossed an international border, linked up with a local cell, obtained a vehicle-borne IED, and rammed it into the gates of a paramilitary headquarters in Pakistan’s largest city — all in a week.
Initial investigations indicated that the attackers rammed a vehicle through the compound’s main gate before entering and launching the assault with hand grenades and automatic weapons, triggering multiple explosions. Authorities sealed off the area as exchanges of gunfire continued and residents were advised to remain indoors. Outlook India’s coverage confirmed Sindh Inspector General of Police Javed Alam Odho said the militants used a vehicle and that Rangers personnel responded immediately.
Six militants were killed and one attacker was captured alive following a nearly 90-minute operation involving Rangers personnel, Special Security Unit commandos and the Anti-Terrorist Force. The 90-minute gunfight in Gulistan-i-Jauhar — a residential neighbourhood where families live in apartment blocks within earshot of the compound — ended with six attackers dead and one in custody.
Dawn confirmed that the funeral prayers of the three martyred Rangers personnel were held with the participation of Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, Sindh Governor Nehal Hashmi, Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, the Rangers director general and other senior officials.
The last major terrorist attack in Karachi was a bombing near the airport on October 6, 2024, which left one person dead and 11 others injured. After two consecutive months of improvement, Pakistan’s security situation deteriorated sharply in May, driven primarily by escalating violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. The country witnessed 128 terrorist attacks during May — a 27% increase from April’s 101 attacks, according to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies.
Dawn’s ISPR report on the attack confirmed that three personnel were martyred and the attack was decisively foiled. The captured attacker’s confession — if it holds under judicial scrutiny — gives Pakistan its most direct evidence yet that Saturday night’s assault was planned on Afghan territory by an Afghan national trained in Jalalabad. The UK Special Envoy’s acknowledgement of TTP’s cross-border support structures gives Pakistan’s narrative international backing — but that backing has not yet translated into Taliban action against the groups using Afghan soil to plan attacks in Karachi. The Pakistan border strikes that followed were Islamabad’s response to the absence of that action.
