LAHORE: Six suspected Al Qaeda militants were killed in an encounter with police at Mondka Chowk near Muzaffargrah on Thursday.

A spokesman for the Counter Terrorism Department claimed that the deceased were the same terrorists who had escaped during an operation on Wednesday night.

ISI and CTD teams set up a checkpoint on the road leading to D.G. Khan and Balochistan.

A police team at midnight signalled a car and a motorcycle to stop, but their riders did not stop and opened fire and tried to flee.

The car, which had an improvised explosive device fixed to it, exploded after being hit by a bullet fired by police.

Police found Yasir Punjabi and five unidentified terrorists dead.

Police claimed to have recovered one automatic rifle and pistols from the spot.

Yasir Punjabi was wanted by police with a head money of Rs1 million. He had carried out eight blasts in Gujranwala.

He was said to be the mastermind of an attack on a place of worship of Ahmadis in Lahore. He was also involved in targeted killings of police officials in Uch Sharif, Muzaffargarh, D.G. Khan and Layyah.

Published in Dawn, May 20th, 2016