GUJRAT: Law-enforcement agencies (LEAs) have traced the culprits involved in four major incidents of target killings in Gujrat during the last six months.

Sources say a group belonging to a banned outfit is responsible for killings on a sectarian basis. After arresting some suspects involved in the attacks, LEAs are striving to arrest some more suspects.

Seven people, including religious figure Fazeelat Shah alias Phul Shah, had been killed in a targeted attack on Sept 6 last. Constable Sarfraz was assassinated at a check-post near the busy Jail Chowk the same month.

Two people, including Prof Syed Shabbir Husain of the University of Gujrat, were gunned down in an ambush on Nov 19 last whereas an Ahmedi trader twice survived life attempt in June and September.

A well-placed source in a law-enforcement agency told Dawn on Thursday the investigators of various law-enforcement agencies had finally reached a conclusion after investigation that the terrorists belonging to the same group of a banned outfit known for sectarian killings in Punjab was involved in the four strikes.

About firing on an army vehicle near Kot Mojdeen in Kunjah police precincts on Nov 7 last in which an army driver was killed and a retired colonel sustained bullet injuries, he said it was not an attack by any militant or a banned outfit. He said it was driven by a personal grudge that a retired soldier had against the retired colonel.

Another source who is a senior official in the Gujrat police told Dawn the law-enforcement agencies had also traced the network of local facilitators of the group of the banned outfit and consistent monitoring of that network was being done and some more arrests were on the cards.