LAHORE: In what police claimed an incident of terrorism, two officials of an intelligence agency were shot dead by an unidentified person in the parking of a roadside hotel in Khanewal district on Tuesday.

Police said Multan region Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) director Naveed Sadiq and inspector Nasir Abbas were having tea at a roadside hotel on National Highway near Pirowal.

Police said both the officials went to the parking lot [after tea] when an unidentified man opened fire at them. Both the officials suffered bullet wounds and died on the spot.

However, the attacker riding a motorcycle fled the scene.

A heavy police contingent reached the spot and started collecting evidence from the crime scene. The police also launched a search operation in the area to arrest the suspect.

South Punjab Additional IG Shehzad Sultan also approached the scene and directed the police to investigate the case from all angles.

A source claimed that both the officials were working on different terrorism-related cases and initial reports suggested that a member of banned organisation Al-Qaeda was involved in killing them.

He said the law-enforcement agencies would investigate the case from all angles and would arrest the suspects involved in killing the officials.

Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Parvez Elahi also took notice of the incident and sought a report from Inspector General of Police (IGP) Amir Zulfiqar.

He also directed to use all available resources to arrest the suspects involved in killing the officials.

Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2023