KARACHI, Mar 18: A suspected member of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan was killed in “a police encounter” in the Manghopir area on Monday, officials said.

They said gunmen riding a motorbike tried to stop a car in Kunwari Colony and fired several shots at the moving vehicle when its driver tried to speed away.

“The gunshots sound alerted a police mobile on a routine patrol in the area,” said area sub-divisional police officer DSP Zahid Hussain Siddiqui. “The police party then spotted the two riders trying to escape. The police tried to stop them, but they fired at our men, and an exchange of gunfire ensued. As a result, one of the suspects was killed and the other arrested.”

He said the suspect’s body was later moved to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital with his detained aide for treatment. Initial investigations led to the fact that the man killed in the police encounter was Nadim Mehsud, wanted in several cases of attacks on police, he added.

“The deceased was the younger brother of Abid Mehsud, a key figure of the TTP wanted in several terrorism-related cases,” added DSP Siddiqui. “The arrested man has been identified as Khair Alam, whose previous record is not known yet, but we have reason to believe that the two were associated with the TTP. We have seized three pistols and a motorbike from them.”