KARACHI: A suspected Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan militant said to be the mastermind of the Abbas Town bombing was killed in what officials claimed an encounter in Surjani Town on Sunday.

Aslam Mehsud, who had been remanded in police custody till April 20, was wounded along with two policemen of CID during the shootout that resulted in the arrest of another suspect and recovery of an explosives-laden vehicle, the officials said.

SSP anti-extremist cell of CID Aslam Khan told Dawn that during the course of investigation, Aslam Mehsud had disclosed the presence of an explosives-laden car in Surjani Town that he had prepared to target the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.

“We took the suspect to the scene in Surjani Town, where a shootout took place in which two policemen of CID ASI Khalid Saeed and police constable Puno Khan along with suspect Aslam Mehsud were wounded,” SSP Khan added.

The three men were rushed to the Civil Hospital Karachi where suspect Aslam Mehsud succumbed to his wounds during treatment, the SSP said.

The police, meanwhile, managed to arrest one suspect from the scene and impounded the car planted with five separate devices containing over 150 kilos of explosives, the officer said.

The police also seized two AK-47 rifles and as many TT pistols from the scene.

Earlier the CID had claimed that during initial interrogation the suspect and his accomplices disclosed that they belonged to the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (Khan Zaman Group, Karachi) and had planed to attack the Muttahida Qaumi Movement headquarters and US consulate in Karachi.