DERA ISMAIL KHAN: A leader of an outlawed terrorist group and suspected mastermind of the Ashura bomb blast in Dera Ismail Khan was killed and his aide was arrested in an encounter with police here on Wednesday.

According to police, they received a tip that Walid Akbar, mastermind of the bomb blast and an attack on a GPO cash van in Zaffarabad Colony, was present on the Indus Highway with another important member of his group.

District police chief Sadiq Hussain Baloch reached the place with a team and chased the militants wanted in several cases of terrorism.

The accused, on a motorcycle, opened fire on the police vehicle and tried to escape in fields. However, police shot Walid Akbar dead and Abu Bakr was injured and arrested. Guns and grenades were seized from them. The body taken to a hospital but the injured militant was taken to the Dera police station for interrogation.

Abu Bakr is suspected to be the mastermind of the Dera Ismail Khan jailbreak.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2014