SWABI: District police officer Sajjad Khan on Wednesday said an FIR would be registered against the owner of a house, where three militants engaged the police for a five hours encounter on Tuesday before being killed.

He, however, didn’t give details.

Three militants took refuge in the house of Nawab Ali in Shewa village and traded fire with the police for several hours on Tuesday.

The police later killed militants in the house using rockets, hand grenades and automatic weapons.

A constable was also killed and six people, including three policemen, suffered injuries in the gunfight.

The DPO told Dawn that two of the three militants were identified as Salman and Bilal, while the third, whose body was placed at the Shahmansoor Hospital Complex, was unidentified.

“Efforts are underway and we hope that the third militant will be indentified very soon,” he said. He said the militants were affiliated with the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan and that Salman was their commander, who was wanted for various acts of terrorism.

The government had announced Rs2 million bounty on the head of Salman.

A police official said Salman and Bilal belonged to Shewa village, while the house, where they were holed up, was owned by the latter’s relative.

He said local residents claimed that Nawab Ali was a farmer and had no link with militants, who stepped into his house incidentally.

Published in Dawn March 12th , 2015

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