Lahore: Two wanted Pakistani Taliban militants allegedly involved in the killing of a police officer in Punjab province recently were shot dead by law enforcement agencies in Rawalpindi, police said on Sunday.
“Two terrorists of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were killed during a police encounter in Rawalpindi, some 250 kilometres from Lahore, on Saturday,” a statement by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab Police said.
It said the suspected terrorists were involved in the killing of a Dolphin police officer in Rawalpindi a few days ago.
The slain terrorists have been identified as Naseebullah and Ehsanullah. They were allegedly involved in other anti-state activities, including an attack on a convoy, and were wanted by police, the CTD said.
A large quantity of arms and explosives have been recovered from the terrorists’ hideout.
Early this week, the CTD shot dead two key members of the Pakistani Taliban who purportedly wanted to assassinate an important member of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s cabinet.
TTP members—Adeel alias Saifullah Khorasani and Zain alias Asadullah Khorasani—were killed in a shootout with police in Bahawalpur district of Punjab, some 400 kilometres from Lahore.
“The slain terrorists were involved in a plot to assassinate Federal Minister Riaz Hussain Pirzada,” a CTD spokesperson claimed. Pirzada is also a close associate of former premier and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif.
