Five terrorists killed in Lahore encounter

Police conduct 104 operations in Punjab; 7,618 people questioned, 190 detained

LAHORE: Five terrorists were killed in an encounter with security forces in Lahore on Wednesday.

The CIA Nawankot police gunned down the five terrorists in an alleged encounter in the limits of the Nawab Town police station in the wee hours of Wednesday. The police recovered two Kalashnikovs, three pistols, 10 hand grenades and eight time-devices from their possession. The deceased were wanted by the police in dozens of cases. The operation was conducted in coordination with the intelligence agencies.

A CIA Nawankot police team, on a tip-off, raided the LDA Avenue Society to round up the terrorists living in a rented house. The terrorists opened fire on the policemen who also returned fire. As a result, all the five terrorists were killed while members of the police raiding team escaped unhurt. Police claimed that all the five terrorists belonged to a banned organisation.

Three alleged terrorists killed by the police were identified as Wahid of Peshawar, Nasir Iqbal of Sharaqpur and Junaid Zahoor of Abbottabad. The identification of two other terrorists was yet to be ascertained. The police shifted the bodies to a morgue for autopsy and registered a case against them.

Some police sources claimed that the alleged five terrorists had already been in custody for the last few days and were killed after being interrogated.In the wake of the Lahore terror incident, search operations are being carried out across the Punjab on the directions of Inspector General of Police, Punjab, Mushtaq Ahmad Sukhera.

During the last 24 hours, the Punjab Police conducted 104 operations, the CTD 16, and 58 Intelligence Based Operations were conducted with other agencies in all districts. During these search operations, 7,618 people were questioned and 7,428 were released after grilling. Police detained 190 persons for questioning, whereas five suspects were killed in Lahore.