4 militants killed in shootout with counterterror police

multan — Police killed four militants in a shootout in a central district on Monday, according to an official with the country’s counterterrorism department.

The militants were killed when the police returned fire in a raid in the Khanewal district, said Chaudhry Mohammed Saleem, the official. He said the militants were from Jamatul Ahrar, a breakaway faction of the outlawed Pakistani Taleban.

The faction has also expressed support for the Middle East-based group terrorist Daesh but has not pledged allegiance to it.

Hand grenades, assault rifles and a cache of explosives were seized in the raid, Saleem said, adding that three other suspects managed to escape from the scene.

The raid was part of an intelligence operation launched jointly by the police and military in urban areas in Pakistan, targeting militants who had fled military offensives in lawless tribal regions along the Afghan border that have long served as safe havens for local militants and foreign fighters.

Earlier in the day, a roadside bombing wounded four Pakistani paramilitary troops in the southwestern district of Mastung, which was the site of a deadly Daesh attack last week.

In Monday’s attack, a roadside bomb struck the troops’ vehicle, police official Abdul Nabi said.

Extremist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility for the attack. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed a similar attack on Sunday that wounded two paramilitary troops.

A suicide attack by Daesh in Mastung on Friday killed 28 people. Daesh had said it targeted a lawmaker seen as close to the Taleban.

Meanwhile, three outlaws were killed by firing of their own accomplices during two encounters near Kasur on Monday.

A police team was carrying out snap checking near Madarkye area when it spotted six suspects riding

The militants were killed when the police returned fire in a raid in the Khanewal district Chaudhry Mohammed Saleem, a counter-terror police official

on three motorcycles. The police signalled them to stop but they opened fire on police and sped away.

Police chased the criminals who took positions in fields and started firing on the police party. The police retaliated and two outlaws identified as Iftikhar and Shahbaz were injured while their accomplices managed to flee. The injured were taken to hospital where they succumbed to their injuries. The fleeing outlaws were intercepted by another police party and a criminal identified as Akram suffered bullet injuries. He was shifted to hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. — AP, APP