LAHORE/SHEIKHUPURA: Seven suspected terrorists belonging to banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) were killed in an ‘encounter’ in Sheikhupura late on Tuesday night.

A Counter Terrorism Department spokesman told Dawn on Wednesday they received information that about 10 to 15 suspicious men riding six motorcycles were travelling towards Sharaqpur for an attack on law-enforcement personnel late on Tuesday night. He said Sheikhupura police were alerted to arrest the suspects.

He said as a police party challenged the terrorists near a drain bridge in Sharaqpur area, they opened fire which was retaliated. He said when the firing stopped from both sides, the CTD teams found seven unidentified men dead who were killed in ‘firing by their accomplices’. Some five of their accomplices fled taking an advantage of darkness.

Police shifted the bodies to morgue for identification. The CTD team also collected evidence from the scene which showed that the suspected terrorists belonged to proscribed TTP and LeJ.

The spokesman said police also recovered two kilo explosives, primacord, one Kalashnikov, two 244-bore rifles and three motorcycles from the scene.

A senior CTD officer, on condition of anonymity, told this reporter the suspects were going to attack law-enforcement agencies in Sheikhupura region.

Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2016