QUETTA: A key commander of banned outfit Daesh was killed in a gun battle with Counter Ter­rorism Department (CTD) personnel in Mas­tung area on Wednesday.

Officials said that the CTD, on intelligence reports about the presence of the suspected Daesh commander Ghulam Din Shahwani alias Shoaib in Mastung town, cordoned off the area for his arrest.

The Daesh commander, instead of surrender, started firing on the CTD personnel. The CTD personnel also took position and returned fire.

The heavy exchange of fire continued for half an hour and finally resulted in the killing of Shahwani.

The CTD personnel took the body of the Daesh commander into their custody and shifted it to Mastung district hospital.

“The Daesh commander came to Mastung for carrying out terrorist attack in the area,” a CTD spokesman said, adding that he was involved in the suicide attack on Jamat-i-Islami chief Sirajul Haq, JUI- F Secretary General Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri and the suicide attack on lawyers in the Quetta Civil Hospital which left 60 people dead, including 53 lawyers.

He was also involved in the slaughter of 11 coal miners in Mach area of Bolan district and target killing of police officials in Quetta and other areas of the province.

The CTD spokesman said the deceased was one of the important commanders of the Baloch­istan chapter of Daesh. He joined the banned outfit in 2015 after getting training in Waziristan from the TTP.

Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2023