LAHORE: The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) claimed on Saturday to have killed a suspected terrorist allegedly belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in an encounter and arrested 11 other members of banned outfits from different cities during intelligence-based operations (IBOs) across Punjab.

According to a spokesperson, the Punjab CTD conducted 26 IBOs in different districts of the province to counter the menace of terrorism and interrogated 26 suspects.

During these IBOs, one suspected TTP terrorist, Irfan Ullah, was killed and 11 others belonging to the banned organisations were arrested.

The arrested suspects were identified as Usman Ghani alias Affan of militant Islamic State (IS) group, Kashif Ilyas, Jawad Saeed, Muhammad Jalib, Muhammad Hammad alias Mosa Commando, Muhammad Saqib Aliyas Khan, Sabz Ali, Wakeel Khan, Hayat Muhammad alias Hazrat Khan, Daud Shah and Ahmed Jan alias Ahmed, of the banned TTP.

The CTD also registered 10 cases against the arrested suspects in different police stations of the province under relevant sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA).

The CTD claimed to have recovered one suicide jacket, 3649gm explosives, eight detonators, three hand grenades, 11ft safety fuse wire, 60ft prima cord, three packets of ball bearing, one sub-machine gun (SMG ) with 18 bullets, one 30 bore pistol with 6 bullets, one 9mm pistol with 6 bullets, one remote control receiver, two batteries, one battery charger, two books, six receipt books, 63 pamphlets, one flag and 57 stickers of the banned outfit, besides three mobile phones and Rs36,800 cash.

Moreover, the spokesperson said, as many as 564 combing operations were conducted with the help of local police/LEAs during the current week. As many as 26,192 people were checked, 93 were arrested and 61 FIRs were registered. He said 56 items were also recovered during these operations.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2023