GUJRAT – At least six alleged terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were gunned down in an intelligence-based operation conducted by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) on Saturday night.
A spokesperson of CTD confirmed that the most wanted terrorist on Red Book, Muhammad Suhaib of Sargodha, was among the dead.
Detailing the high-profile operation, he explained that the CTD district officer of Gujrat received a tip-off about the presence of eight to nine terrorists belonging to the TTP and Jamaatul Ahrar in the vicinity of Shadiwal Power Station; they were believed to be planning an attack on a sensitive installation, on Sunday.
However, the CTD team set up a picket on Upper Jhelum Canal bridge and around 11 pm, eight to nine people on three motorcycles appeared and opened fire, upon being asked to stop.
The vigilante team opened retaliatory fire, killing six terrorists on the spot while three other outlaws managed to escape.
The deceased were identified as Muhammad Suhaib, Abdul Muqeem, Muhammad Faisal Nisar, Muhammad Usman of Sargodha, Abdul Azeem and Rauf Ahmad of Muzaffargarh, Dawn News reported.
The CTD had been chasing the network for quite some time as the terrorists were proclaimed offenders and were involved in several bomb blasts in Lahore, including Ferozepur Road and Bedian Road blasts of 2017 in which dozens of innocent citizens were martyred.
The CTD officer claimed that a terrorist Suhaib was the mastermind of Brigadier Zahoor Qadri’s murder in Sargodha and this network was planning to carry out several more suicide attacks.
The CTD team also confiscated two suicide bombing vests, a Kalashnikov with cartridges, one pump action gun, three pistols of 30 bore, five hand grenades, two motorcycles, five detonators and several maps of important installations.
