SHEIKHUPURA/LAHORE: Eight militants, allegedly linked with the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan were found killed after an exchange of fire with the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) officials late on Wednesday in a Sheikhupura village.

A spokesperson for the CTD said they had received “information” regarding the presence of eight to 12 militants on Sharqpur Road near Hoaeki village, in the jurisdiction of Hoyaki police, Sheikhopura district. He said the militants were planning to attack the officials of law-enforcement agencies on Thursday morning.

The spokesman said the CTD officials raided the place to arrest them.

“As the CTD officials challenged and warned them to surrender, instead of following the orders, terrorists started firing at the police party. The police fired in self defence. After sometime, when the firing stopped, eight terrorists were found dead at the scene, all killed in firing by their own accomplices,” he said.

The spokesman said four militants had fled the scene, taking benefit of darkness.

Two deceased were identified as Rashid, of Muzaffargrah, and Tufail, of Jahanian. The identity of six others had yet to be ascertained, the spokesman added.

He said they had seized four Kalashnikov, detonators, four motorcycles, four pistols, 6 kilogrammes of explosive material and prima cord from the scene.

The bodies were shifted to the city morgue for postmortem.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2016