PESHAWAR: The city police on Friday claimed to have arrested two target killers of a banned militant outfit involved in murder of a serving lieutenant colonel of Pakistan Army.

Lt-Col Tariq Ghafoor was gunned down by unknown assailants on Ring Road area falling in the jurisdiction of Sarband police station on the outskirts of the Peshawar city.

ASP Hayatabad Hassan Afzal told reporters that the city police and Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) managed to arrest the target killers in joint raids. He identified the accused as Imtiaz alias Farooq and Hussain Jan.

The police officer said Imtiaz was arrested from Alam Godar area of Bara, while Hussain Jan was nabbed from Achini area of the city.

He said the target killers were tasked by a commander of a militant outfit while they were serving their prison terms in Jalalabad jail in Afghanistan. He said when Imtiaz was at the end of his five-year term and Hussain his three years, the commander of the militant outfit, who was also in jail, tasked them with murdering Lt-Col Ghafoor. They were promised Rs1 million for the kill.

ASP Afzal said the killers followed Ghafoor after coming to Peshawar following completing their prison terms, adding the two shot dead the army officer while riding a motorcycle.

The police officer said the accused were also involved in other incidents of targeted killing across the province, adding they had been handed over to the CTD for investigations.

Published in Dawn, May 14th, 2016