Police arrest 5 TTP Punjab militants

Militants involved in killings of 10 jail employees, arrested on way to Dera Ismail Khan from Sher Kot.

LAHORE: Five militants belonging to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)’s Punjab faction, who are said to have been involved in carrying out terror bids, were arrested on Wednesday when they were on their way to Dera Ismail Khan from Sher Kot.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Punjab Habibur Rehman revealed that the militants were involved in the killing of 10 jail employees residing in a hostel located in the Rasool Park area of Lahore and other terrorism acts, including an attack on a police check post in Babu Sabu.

Addressing a press conference in Lahore, the IGP along with Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Additional IG Mushtaq Ahmed Sukhera and City Police Officer (CPO) Multan Amir Zulfiqar, said that the Multan police had an encounter with Punjabi Taliban Qari Yaseen alias Ustad Aslam’s group and arrested five members.

The police also seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition from their possession including Kalashnikovs.

Rehman further revealed that during initial interrogation, the arrested men admitted to their involvement in the attack on the hostel in which 10 under-trial wardens of the prisons department of Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa (K-P) were killed.

The militants said that they also took part in an attack on Babu Sabu check post, robbery at a local bank located in the Green Town area of Lahore and a suicide attack at DPO Ismail Khan’s office.

The IG said that they also revealed that they were involved in killing policemen and Shias in Dera Ismail Khan and some other parts of the province.

He identified the militants as Habibur Rehman Imtiaz, Hafiz Muhammad Ramzan, Muhammad Imran and Amir Muawia. He added that they hail from different areas of Dera Ismail Khan and had planned countrywide terror bids in Miranshah.

Abdul Ghaffar alias Qari Saifullah, who was the head of this group, had earlier been killed during an encounter with the police, he added. “The accused were arrested after an encounter. The police also seized of arms and ammunition which they had hidden in bedsheets.”