ATC hands down death penalty to six terrorists

GILGIT: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Thursday awarded death penalty to six terrorists whose leader carried out a suicide blast during a raid in Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B)’s Diamer valley earlier this year, killing four people including two army soldiers.

The decision was announced by the ATC judge Raja Shehbaz Khan in absentia as the terrorists are still at large. Besides the death penalty, court has also imposed fine on the culprits.

Acting on an intelligence tipoff, security forces on March 17 laid siege to the house of Hazrat Noor – a local militant commander of the outlawed TTP Diamer faction.

During the encounter, the suspected terrorist blew himself up, killing two troops as well as his wife and a daughter. However, his corroborator had managed to escape.

Noor had allegedly remained involved in attacks against foreign tourists, case investigators and passengers on the Karakoram Highway.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 30^th, 2016.