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Shuja Khanzada murder: Four suspects killed in CTD 'encounter'
IMRAN GABOL — PUBLISHED 42 MINUTES AGO
LAHORE: Four people suspected of involvement in the suicide attack on slain Punjab home minister Colonel (retd) Shuja Khanzada were killed in an 'encounter' on Wednesday night.
The suspects identified as Qasim, Amjad, Saddam and Sadaqat were killed in an exchange of fire with Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) Sheikhupura personnel, sources say.
The CTD conducted an intelligence-based raid on a house in Iqbal Town Division's Sherakot area on the outskirts of Lahore.
Four suspects managed to escape from the scene.
The suspects are affiliated with a banned militant organisation and had facilitated the Aug 16 suicide attack on Khanzada, CTD sources claim.
Also read: TTP group involved in Attock suicide bombing
Earlier this week, the CTD announced the arrest of a suspected facilitator of the attack on Khanzada, Qasim Muavia.
A CTD source said Muavia was a member of the Qari Sohail Group and had been on the ‘most wanted list’ of the CTD for his alleged involvement in target killings in the Attock district.
The involvement of Qari Sohail Group in the suicide attack emerged when the investigators found a motorcycle abandoned at the scene of the attack. The bike was suspected to be used by the bomber for reaching Khanzada’s dera in the Shadi Khan village of Attock, Dawn newspaper had reported.
The source said Muavia was aware of the plot to target the Punjab home minister.
The CTD had claimed that Qari Sohail was the mastermind of the suicide attack and had dropped the bomber close to the dera of the minister. The source said Qari Sohail used several other local facilitators, including Qasim Muavia, Amjad, Fayaz, Naz Zaheer, Talha, Imran Sattar, Sadaqat and Saddam, for carrying out the terror attack.
A spokesman for the Counter-Terrorism Department said the CTD and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) were jointly working to arrest the remaining accused involved in the suicide bombing in Attock. However, the CTD did not reveal the name and identity of the suicide bomber.
Also read: Punjab home minister Shuja Khanzada killed in terror attack
Shuja Khanzada was killed in a suicide attack on his political office in Shadi Khan village, Attock, in August, along with 16 others.
Two suicide bombers affiliated with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) carried out the bombing, a provincial government official had earlier said. Two additional suicide bombers had been deputed to Lahore to attack Khanzada's residence, the official said, but they were recalled after the Attock attack.
Following the incident, a First-Information Report (FIR) had been filed by the Station House Officer (SHO) Ghulam Shabbir of the Rangoo police station on behalf of the state against those involved in the attack.
An initial investigation report given to Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif revealed that the home minister was killed in retaliation of the killing of Lashkar-i-Jhangvi chief Malik Ishaq and others.
IMRAN GABOL — PUBLISHED 42 MINUTES AGO
LAHORE: Four people suspected of involvement in the suicide attack on slain Punjab home minister Colonel (retd) Shuja Khanzada were killed in an 'encounter' on Wednesday night.
The suspects identified as Qasim, Amjad, Saddam and Sadaqat were killed in an exchange of fire with Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) Sheikhupura personnel, sources say.
The CTD conducted an intelligence-based raid on a house in Iqbal Town Division's Sherakot area on the outskirts of Lahore.
Four suspects managed to escape from the scene.
The suspects are affiliated with a banned militant organisation and had facilitated the Aug 16 suicide attack on Khanzada, CTD sources claim.
Also read: TTP group involved in Attock suicide bombing
Earlier this week, the CTD announced the arrest of a suspected facilitator of the attack on Khanzada, Qasim Muavia.
A CTD source said Muavia was a member of the Qari Sohail Group and had been on the ‘most wanted list’ of the CTD for his alleged involvement in target killings in the Attock district.
The involvement of Qari Sohail Group in the suicide attack emerged when the investigators found a motorcycle abandoned at the scene of the attack. The bike was suspected to be used by the bomber for reaching Khanzada’s dera in the Shadi Khan village of Attock, Dawn newspaper had reported.
The source said Muavia was aware of the plot to target the Punjab home minister.
The CTD had claimed that Qari Sohail was the mastermind of the suicide attack and had dropped the bomber close to the dera of the minister. The source said Qari Sohail used several other local facilitators, including Qasim Muavia, Amjad, Fayaz, Naz Zaheer, Talha, Imran Sattar, Sadaqat and Saddam, for carrying out the terror attack.
A spokesman for the Counter-Terrorism Department said the CTD and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) were jointly working to arrest the remaining accused involved in the suicide bombing in Attock. However, the CTD did not reveal the name and identity of the suicide bomber.
Also read: Punjab home minister Shuja Khanzada killed in terror attack
Shuja Khanzada was killed in a suicide attack on his political office in Shadi Khan village, Attock, in August, along with 16 others.
Two suicide bombers affiliated with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) carried out the bombing, a provincial government official had earlier said. Two additional suicide bombers had been deputed to Lahore to attack Khanzada's residence, the official said, but they were recalled after the Attock attack.
Following the incident, a First-Information Report (FIR) had been filed by the Station House Officer (SHO) Ghulam Shabbir of the Rangoo police station on behalf of the state against those involved in the attack.
An initial investigation report given to Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif revealed that the home minister was killed in retaliation of the killing of Lashkar-i-Jhangvi chief Malik Ishaq and others.
