KARACHI: Police claimed on Monday evening having killed four suspected militants in an ‘encounter’ on the outskirts of the city and seized two suicide jackets made in Afghanistan.

Acting on a tip-off, personnel of police and an intelligence agency conducted a targeted raid on a house in Quetta Town in the Sohrab Goth area off the Superhighway. As police encircled the home, the suspects opened fire on them, wounding two policemen.

The police retaliated and during the exchange of fire, four militants were killed, claimed Malir SSP Rao Anwar Ahmed.

The officer identified one of the dead as Asadullah, alias Saleh Rehmani, who he said was a cousin of a militant, Naeem Bukhari, who was in custody.

Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa had at a press conference in February 2016 at Corps V Headquarters announced the arrest of Attaur Rehman, alias Naeem Bukhari, Karachi chief of Lashkar-i-Jhangvi who carried head money of Rs20 million, along with other militants.

The Malir SSP claimed that two suicide jackets were also found in the hideout, which were defused by Bomb Disposal Squad personnel. Each jacket weighed around 15 kilogram explosive material. The officer said that these suicide jackets were made in Afghanistan. Apart from the suicide jackets, police claimed to have recovered 20kg explosive material, two Kalashnikovs and two 9mm pistols.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2016