Pakistan arrests top anti-Shia Lashkar-e-Jhangvi terrorist

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Pakistan has arrested the chief of the death squad of anti-Shia terrorist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), according to security officials.

The Pakistani Intelligence Bureau (IB) made the announcement on Friday during a briefing to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the Pakistani television network Dunya News reported.

IB officials identified the captured terrorist as Masoom Billah.

The officials did not provide details about where and when Billah was arrested.

According to former Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik, the LeJ has been involved in 80 percent of terrorist incidents in the country.

Human rights groups have criticized the Pakistani government for its failure to stem the rising tide of violence against the country’s Shia Muslims.

According to Human Rights Watch, about 400 Shia Muslims were killed in 2012 in Pakistan, and more than 200 have been killed since the beginning of 2013.

The New York-based group said Islamabad's failure to capture or prosecute terrorists suggested it was "indifferent" to the killings.

On February 16, a bomb attack targeting Shia Muslims in the main bazaar of the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta killed at least 90 people, including women and children, and injured 200 others. According to the police, most of the victims were Hazara Shias.

On January 10, a twin bomb attack at a crowded billiard hall killed more than 90 people, mostly Shia Muslims, in Quetta, which is the capital of Balochistan province.

The Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility for the two bombings in Quetta. The terrorist group was founded in 1996 by Riaz Basra after he broke away from Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan over differences with his superiors.

/129