MARDAN: A commander of banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, who had Rs2 million bounty on his head, was killed during an encounter in Gujrat area here on Friday, claimed police.

Talking to media persons, Mardan district police officer Faisal Shehzad said a group of alleged militants opened fire on personnel of Chora police station when they were on a routine patrol in the surrounding areas.

He said a police contingent led by him reached the spot after he received information about the incident. He said the police cordoned off the area and took positions against the militants who were equipped with arms and ammunitions.

DPO Shehzad said police returned the fire, killing a militant identified as Radad Ullah alias Farooq Alam, a commander of the banned TTP. He said two other militants accompanying him succeeded to flee the scene.

He said police were assisted by personnel of Elite Force and armoured vehicles in the operation, adding the killed TTP commander was wanted to police in 10 different cases of terrorism since 2007.

The DPO said arms and hand grenades were recovered from the killed terrorist. He said they had launched a search operation to arrest the fleeing militants and those harbouring them. The police registered a case against the militants under Anti-Terrorism Act.

Published in Dawn, October 10th , 2015

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