Police raid: Suspected militant killed, three accomplices arrested

Gang allegedly involved in DI Khan jailbreak on July 30.

DI KHAN:

The DI Khan police busted a gang of suspected militants, killing one and arresting three others in a raid in Mainz Baloch, Zameerabad. Acting on an intelligence tip off, police approached a sugarcane field to capture the suspects. When they reached the site, the alleged terrorists resisted and opened fire at the police.

The police fired back and the ensuing gunfight lasted four hours. Cantt police SHO Saifur Rehman led the operation; the officials surrounded the men who also lobbed three grenades at the police.

The group’s leader, Roshan Mehsud, was killed and three of his accomplices arrested, a Cantt police official told The Express Tribune. The same gang is suspected to be involved in the DI Khan jailbreak on July 30 in which TTP militants freed nearly 250 inmates.

Following the operation, the three men taken into custody were identified as Sakhi Jan, Ishaq and Sher Gul Dottani, residents of South Waziristan. The police also recovered four 30-bore pistols, seven hand grenades and bullets.

Officials also seized a mobile phone, four memory cards and four SIM cards from the deceased. He belonged to the Mehsud tribe and hailed from Makeen, South Waziristan but had been living in DI Khan. Mehsud was wanted in cases of kidnapping, extortion and robbery, and his name was also included in a case registered regarding the DI Khan jailbreak.

“He was one of those who took part in the attack on the jail,” claimed the police official. An FIR has been registered against the accused arrested.

Initial investigations reveal the suspects were planning attacks during Christmas and Chehlum of Imam Hussain.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 22^nd, 2013.