GUJRAT, Nov 8: Law-enforcement agencies have arrested some 40 suspects, including activists of some banned outfits, during a search operation in the area surrounding the Kot Mojdeen army farmhouse where a driver was killed and a retired colonel was injured in an attack on an army vehicle on Wednesday last.

Confirming the arrests, District Police Officer Ali Nasir Rizvi said the suspects were being investigated by different law-enforcement agencies. He declined to share any further information in the case.

It is learnt that officials of Federal Investigation Unit (FIU) have also joined the investigation.

Official sources told Dawn though the possibility of the involvement of some terrorist organisation in the attack could not be ruled out, the circumstantial evidence collected from the crime scene also suggested some other nature of the attack.

They said since the alleged attackers sprayed bullets on the driving seat side and did not target another soldier also present in the vehicle, it looked that their target was the driver or the colonel only.

The investigators thought that possibility of some kind of other nature of the dispute of the deceased driver or the colonel with the people related to the business of farming or land was also there as retired colonel Zahid Lateef was the forest officer of at least 36,000 acres of army’s farm land in six to seven districts of Punjab, including that of the farmhouse located along Khanki Headworks near Kot Mojdeen for the purpose of cultivation.It is learnt the deceased driver was considered to be an aide to the retired colonel.