Pakistani forces kill 6 militants in raids

THOSE GUNNED DOWN INCLUDE A TOP TALIBAN COMMANDER WHO MASTERMINDED LAST YEAR’S BOMB BLAST IN KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA IN WHICH 31 PEOPLE WERE KILLED

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani security forces have killed six terrorists, including those involved in a bomb blast that killed three Sikhs and the kidnapping of the son of a former prime minister.

Four militants were gunned down on Wednesday, including a top Taliban commander who masterminded last year’s powerful bomb blast in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in which at least 31 people including three Sikhs were killed.

Those killed in the exchange of fire include Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander Islam and Mohibullah who were involved in various terror activities, officials said.

Local media reported that intelligence agencies raided a house near Qazi pump area where the militants were hiding. The owner of the house was also killed in the firing between the militants and the security forces.

In another operation, two suspected members of the Islamic State group allegedly linked to the kidnapping of former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s son were killed on Tuesday.

Ali Haider Gilani was kidnapped in 2013 and was rescued in 2016 in a joint operation by Afghan and US forces in Ghazni, Afghanistan. The terrorists behind the abduction were among those killed in a pre-dawn raid and shoot-out in a hideout in Faisalabad, a Punjab counter-terrorism department (CTD) official said. CTD official Rai Tahir identified the two militants as Adeel Hafeez and Usman Haroon.

Tahir said officials had in the past foiled other attacks the pair had plotted, adding that they were also behind the killing of two intelligence officials as well as other high-profile crimes.