LAHORE: Rangers clai­med to have killed five suspected terrorists in an encounter in a tribal area of Dera Ghazi Khan district on Sunday.

A Rangers man also lost his life and another suffered injuries. The injured was taken to the Combined Military Hospital in Multan.

According to the spokesman for the Pakistan Rangers (Punjab), they received intelligence reports about the presence of some wanted terrorists and their facilitators / hardened criminals in a hideout in the Chhera Thal area. A Rangers team, accompanied by personnel of an intelligence agency, raided the place early in the morning.

“The terrorists offered resistance and, in an exchange of fire between the two sides, five terrorists were killed and two others arrested,” the spokesman said.

He did not reveal the identity of those killed but said that more than 35 cases, including those pertaining to murder, robbery and kidnapping for ransom, had been registered against them in different police stations of the area.

He identified the deceased Rangers man as Kamran Afzal and the injured as Haroon. The latter was shifted by an army helicopter to the CMH in Multan where he was said to be in critical condition.

Kamran Afzal was a resident of Jaranwala and had recently got married. He had joined Rangers eight years ago and recently completed anti-terrorist training.

As part of Special Operations Rangers Troops, he was posted in Dera Ghazi Khan to take part in operations against terrorists.

The spokesman said that the operation would continue to flush out terrorists and criminals who were involved in heinous crimes, including the killing of policemen.

Talking to Dawn, residents of the area claimed that the law enforcement agencies had conducted the raid in Rukni, a tribal area close to Balochistan, to take action against a notorious criminal, Murid alias Murida Nutkani.

They claimed that Nutkani was involved in different incidents of killing policemen and kidnapping for ransom and also facilitated other criminals.

They said that criminal gangs kidnapped people, took them to Rukni and handed them over to Nutkani, who then demanded ransom from relatives of the kidnap victims.

They said Nutkani also helped and nurtured various criminal gangs, including the Chotoo and Bosan gangs.

A source said that some senior politicians of Dera Ghazi Khan, including the ruling party’s sitting members of the National and Punjab assemblies from the area, had links with Nutkani. One of the leading political figures of the district is the chief of Nutkani tribe.

Published in Dawn, April 10th, 2017