KOHAT, June 4 A commander of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan was killed in an encounter with police during an operation launched in the village of Kot on Thursday to rescue four kidnapped people, including a university professor.

Commander Abdul Wadood, who belonged to the Baitullah Mehsud group, and his men had kidnapped Prof Dr Fida Younis, Manager of the Kohat branch of Khyber Bank, Maqbool Khan Khattak, medical representative Hayatullah and their driver Omer Farooq from Indus Highway when they were going to Kohat from Karak in a car. The driver suffered a minor bullet injury when militants opened fire on the car.

Kohat's deputy inspector-general of police Muhammad Idrees Khan told journalists that a police party chased the kidnappers and intercepted them in Kot village along the Rawalpindi road.

A special anti-terrorist squad was also sent to the place, accompanied by DPO Dilawar Bangash and two DSPs.

Seeing the police party, the militants released the four kidnapped people and started firing. They hurled several hand grenades. During the ensuing exchange of fire, Abdul Wadood, who belongs to Orakzai Agency, was killed and local commander Waris Khan, considered to be an expert in organising suicide bombings, was arrested.

Waris Khan carried a suicide jacket which was defused by a bomb disposal squad. Two hand grenades, a Kalashnikov, a pistol, a mobile phone, some documents and hundreds of bullets were seized.

The encounter continued for more than four hours during which the militants attacked police from two sides while trying to escape.