PESHAWAR, Feb 4: Police foiled a sabotage bid and defused three mortar shells in the limits of Badhber police station on the outskirts of Peshawar on Monday.

A police official said that suspected militants planted three mortar shells in the bushes along the Frontier Road but the law enforcers defused those successfully.

He said that a local resident informed them about the presence of mortar shells in the area. The personnel of bomb disposal squad were called and they defused the mortar shells within an hour, the official said.

The target of the militants, he said, seemed to be law enforcement agencies because police usually patrolled the area for checking suspected elements.

Meanwhile, a proclaimed offender was killed during an encounter in Fateh village in the limits of Mathra police station on Monday.

An official said that accused Sher Hassan opened firing with his Kalashnikov on the law enforcers when they tried to arrest him during a routine patrolling of the area.

“The accused was wanted by police in many cases since 2010 but he always evaded his arrest,” the official claimed and added that he opened firing on police when they appeared in the area.

He said that policemen narrowly escaped, however, their van was damaged in the shootout. The proclaimed offender was killed on the spot in retaliatory firing, he said.