TOBA TEK SINGH/LAHORE: A suspected militant blew himself up after a team of police and intelligence agencies personnel raided a house in Pir Mahal town, 25km from here on Thursday.

Toba District Police Officer Shehzad Akbar told Dawn that intelligence agencies had received information that Habibur Rehman, said to be a member of Al Qaeda, was living in a rented house in the town.

When police personnel reached the place the suspect attacked them with hand-grenades causing injuries to two policemen.

More force was called in and efforts to subdue the suspect continued for more than four hours.

According to the police officer, initial investigation showed that a wife and two sons (between five and seven years of age) of the suspect were killed when he detonated his suicide jacket. Another minor child survived the blast.

The suspect was severely injured and was taken to the Toba DHQ hospital and later shifted to the Faisalabad Allied Hospital where he died.

Muazzam Ramzan, one of the seriously injured constables, also was taken to the same hospital.

Inspector Shahbaz Ahmad Virk told Dawn that Rehman, who hailed from Multan, had rented the house about three months ago. He said members of a terror gang busted recently in Faisalabad had informed law-enforcement agencies about the presence of Rehman in Pir Mahal.

He said a van, three motorcycles, four suicide jackets, 10 hand-grenades, 300 bullets, a Kalashnikov, 13 pistols, six mobile phones, a computer and some CDs were found in the house.

The man had kept a stock of detergent powder and different brands of soap in the van apparently to hide his identity and present himself as a distributor of goods.

Police took into custody the owner of the house, Majeedan Bibi, and property dealer Mohammad Javed who had helped Rehman rent the house.

A local journalist told Dawn that no-one in the locality had any idea where Rehman had come from. He said the house rent agreement identified him as Habibur Rehman whereas neighbours knew him as Abdur Rehman.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play