FAISALABAD: Four alleged militants belonging to a banned outfit were killed in an encounter with Punjab police’s Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) team on the Sargodha Road late on Friday, while their three to four accomplices managed to escape.

According to a CTD spokesperson, the department had been working on a threat alert that banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was planning an attack in Faisalabad.

He said following an information that some militants of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar group of the TTP had entered the city, an intelligence-based operation was conducted during which a CTD team detected seven to eight armed motorcyclists near Sargodha Road, in the remit of Nishatabad police station.

The spokesman said as the armed men were told to surrender, they opened fire on the CTD personnel which was returned. The CTD men took cover and exchanged fire with the militants, he added. He said when the firing stopped, four of the militants were found dead “in the firing of their own accomplices”.

Three to four militants managed to escape, taking benefit of the darkness, he added.

Arms and explosives, including two Kalashnikov guns, pistols, ammunition, about three kilogram explosives, detonators and two motorcycles were seized from the spot, he said.

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2017