ISLAMABAD: Four individuals with suspected links to the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group were arrested during a targeted operation in the capital’s rural outskirts, sources told Dawn.

The sources said the operation was conducted by Rangers, police, and security officials, following intelligence gathered in the Siahala area.

During the operation, raids were conducted on two houses, which led to the arrest of the four individuals, who are allegedly affiliated with the TTP’s North Waziristan chapter and had been hiding in the area for the last few weeks. The raids also led to the recovery of weapons, maps, and other documents containing sensitive information.

Following their arrest the suspects have been shifted to an undisclosed location for questioning, which aims to gain information on their facilitators and accomplices in the city.

The sources said following an exchange of fire between police officials and a group of gunmen late Thursday night on Service Road Gangal, a search operation was conducted in the area and its surrounding localities. The raids were a part of the post-shootout operation. On the condition of anonymity, police officers said that an individual killed during the shootout has been identified as Abdullah, 25, a Bajaur native. “His body is still in the hospital mortuary, no one has come to claim the body,” they said.

The capital police have approached political agencies in Bajaur for details of the deceased, as well as his family, for legal purposes – including an autopsy and the handing over of the body.

Initially, police suspected that he might have been a robber, who attacked the patrolling team along with two accomplices. However an officer said that circumstantial evidence suggests that they were “more than robbers”.

“Small groups facilitate the terrorists who ‘strike’ and generate funds by robbing people and stealing vehicles. It is possible that the groups were waiting to steal a vehicle or rob someone,” police officials said.

The other two gunmen escaped and are still at large, police said, adding that the presence of terrorist groups and their facilitators in the area is a possibility.

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2014