LAHORE: Ten suspected militants of the Jamaatul Ahrar, including Anwarul Haq, the handler of Feb 13 bomb attack on The Mall, were killed in an operation by the Punjab police’s Counter-Terrorism Depart­ment (CTD) on Friday night.

According to a spokesman for the CTD, a team from Lahore was taking five arrested suspects, including Haq, to Manawan for seizing weapons and explosives when they were attacked at about 1.15am near Ring Road by nine “terrorists”.

Examine: Punjab’s militancy problem

The attackers got the arrested suspects freed and fled towards the Ravi river in the Manawan area.

The CTD officials called for more force and chased the suspects. At about 1.45am, they located the suspects and ordered them to surrender, but the militants opened fire at them and an encounter ensued. When the firing stopped, 10 men were found dead.

Five of the killed militants were identified as Haq, Abdullah, Attaur Rehman, Imam Shah and Irfan Khan.

Published in Dawn, April 8th, 2017