Three ‘terrorists’ killed by accomplices in Khyber firefight

Three Lashkar-e-Islam terrorists were killed in a police encounter when their aides tried to free them from the custody of the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) in the Khyber tribal district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) on Saturday.

A police official said that the Peshawar CTD arrested two terrorists, Abdul Jabbar and Omar, residents of Malikdin Khel, Khyber who had been interrogated and had pointed out that a large cache of arms had been kept buried at a secret place.

“Both terrorists had been taken by the CTD to identify the site where the arms and ammunition had been hidden”, said an official, adding that, during the process, a group of terrorists had attacked the police party from the nearby mountains.

“They ambushed the police and tried to free the accused, who were hand cuffed, but their firing killed both men.

An attacker was also killed when the police returned fire”, he said, adding that the attack had taken place where the arms had been buried underground.

“The attackers were six or seven in number and had set an ambush in the mountains.

The identity of the slain attacker is yet to be established”, he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 3^rd, 2023.