Five Taliban militants who were plotting to attack government installations and personnel of law enforcement agencies have been killed in an encounter by security forces in Pakistan’s Punjab province.
Acting on a tip-off, a team of the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) raided the terrorists’ location near Kurd Chowk in Rojhan tehsil of Rajanpur, some 400 km from Lahore, late Saturday night, police said.
“A CTD team accompanied by the Rajanpur police raided the terrorists’ hideout during which they opened fire and threw hand-grenades at the team,” said a spokesperson of CTD, Punjab Police.
“The raiding team returned fire and when guns fell silent, five of the attackers were found dead,” he added.
He claimed the five terrorists were killed in firing by their accomplices.
“Two to three suspects managed to escape taking advantage of darkness,” he said.
The spokesman further said the terrorists were “planning to attack government installations and personnel of law enforcement agencies”.
“The dead terrorists have been identified and they belonged to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan and Lashkar-i-Jhangvi,” he said.
In a separate raid, police arrested three suspected terrorists on Sunday in township here.
According to the CTD, police and CTD personnel raided the hideout after being alerted about the suspected terrorists and arrested three militants.
The police recovered weapons and terror-related literature from them.
The suspects have been shifted to undisclosed location for questioning.
