Eight Jamaatul Ahrar terrorists killed in Sheikhupura shootout

SHEIKUPURA: The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Punjab claimed to have killed eight terrorists in a gunfight in Narang Mandi area late on Wednesday.

Two personnel of CTD were also wounded in the encounter with terrorists, officials said.

The militants killed in the shootout with CTD were affiliated to outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’s breakaway faction Jamaatul Ahrar (JuA).

Officials said three to four militants managed to flee taking advantage of the darkness, adding that 3 kilograms of explosives and suicide vests were seized from site where exchange of fire took place with the terrorists.

The law enforcers have launched manhunt in the area to apprehend the fleeing militants.

The action was intelligence based and the JuA operatives were planning to target key installations in the city, the officials added.

Earlier this week, Ehsanullah Ehsan, the spokesman for the banned Jamaatul Ahrar and a former member of TTP turned himself in, the military spokesman had said.

"Ehsanullah Ehsan has handed himself over to the security forces and at present he is with us," said Director General (DG) Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor.

The DG ISPR told a news conference the success was part of Raddul Fasaad Operation, which is in progress across the country.

Ehsan, who previously was the spokesman for TTP, had joined Jamaatul Ahrar.