26 November 2004	Friday	13 Shawwal 1425

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LAHORE, Nov 25: A suspected Al Qaeda operative was killed and his two accomplices were captured in an operation at the Bhatti Colony in Kot Lakhpat on Thursday. One suspect is reported to have escaped.

Initially, the operation was launched by an intelligence agency but the Punjab Elite Force was called when the suspects put up resistance, hurled hand-grenades and opened fire.

An intelligence official said the suspects belonged to Al Qaeda. "Hand-grenades, assault rifles, hundreds of bullets, fuse and batteries used for bomb making, a computer, CDs, religious literature and plastic sleeping bags used in guerilla warfare were seized from the two houses which were raided."

He said that the intelligence agency personnel under the command of a major had arrived from Peshawar and had with them one Rizwan Ahmad who had provided information about the suspects. Rizwan who was nabbed by the agency in Peshawar a few weeks ago is believed to be an activist of a banned jihadi organisation.

On Thursday, the official said, a house owned by one Shahbaz Ahmad was surrounded by the agency personnel, but the inmates hurled hand-grenades and opened fire. The agency personnel retaliated and called the Elite Force. The exchange of fire continued for well over two hours.

One of the inmates tried to jump to an adjacent roof and was shot. He fell and, in the meantime, two other suspects attempted to escape but police and agency personnel got hold of them.

A fourth suspect managed to break the cordon and escaped. Two officials of the Elite Force and two agency personnel suffered bullet wounds and they were taken to the Combined Military Hospital. The injured suspect was taken to the Lahore General Hospital where he died after receiving initial treatment.

The official identified the dead suspect as Mohabbat Khan, an Afghan national, and said that he had been fighting against US forces in Afghanistan and Pakistani forces in Wana. He had received training in camps in Afghanistan. He and his accomplices had arrived in Lahore on the 16th of Ramazan.

The official added that another house belonging to one Prof Mehboob Ahmad, not far from the first house, was also raided. Although nobody was found in the house but the agency personnel traced a hidden staircase in a room leading to a street.

He said that Professor Mahboob's two sons, Zulfikar Bhutto and Kamran Bobi, had been working for the outlawed Lashkar-i-Tayyaba and had also close links with Rizwan. The official said the suspects had rented the house with the help of the two brothers.