Balochistan's Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) on Tuesday announced the arrest of a key suspected militant involved in a series of targeted killings in the city.

Deputy Inspector General (DIG) CTD Aitzaz Goraya, along with the DIG Frontier Corps (FC), announced that Dr Abdur Raheem Mohammad Shahi, a lead commander of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), was arrested during an operation conducted yesterday.

DIG Goraya in his statement to the media said, "The man is suspected of having a hand in the suicide bombings and numerous target killings that took place in Hazara Town, Bolan Medical Complex, and the [provincial] IG's office."

A number of weapons were also recovered from the arrested terrorist, he said, adding that the man had a Rs2 million bounty on his head. The CTD official said that efforts are underway and more arrests will be made soon.

According to DIG Goraya, the key suspect’s group members Waliullah, Khalid and Aurangzeb were killed in a police encounter on July 30, 2013; while Shafiq, Siraj, Nadir and other accomplices were killed in an encounter with security forces on August 25, 2015.

The arrested suspect has not taken part in any terrorist activity since 2015 when his accomplices were killed, after which he went into hiding.

The police official said that the suspect has informed them about the militants present in Larkana and Khuzdar. Police teams have been dispatched to those areas to unearth the militant network, he added.

Regarding the recent rise in killings of Hazaras, Goraya said, "Security agencies are working with CTD to unearth the perpetrators behind the killings, for which we have very good and proper leads."

"We have procured the names of those who funded and supported these incidents. Raids are being conducted since last night and these individuals are near arrest, we are hopeful that we will be sharing the good news with you soon [of their arrest]."

The Hazara community has been protesting in Quetta for the past three days over the disproportionate targeting of their community by sectarian terrorists.

A report released by the National Commission for Human Rights last month stated that at least 509 members of the Hazara community were killed and 627 injured in various incidents of terrorism in Quetta during the last five years.