Police foil terror attack, kill four militants in Muzaffargarh

Police says two police officials were also injured by grenades hurled at them by militants

MULTAN: Police foiled a major terror attack in Muzaffargarh on Saturday, killing at least four suspected Taliban militants, officials said.

Two of the militants were from Multan, while the other two were residents of Karachi and Dera Ghazi Khan respectively.

Heavy weapons and explosives -- including four suicide jackets, 12 rockets, 40 hand grenades, 328 kilogrammes of gun-powder -- were recovered from the militants after a gun battle in the Muzaffargarh, some 350 kilometres from Lahore.

"We received information from intelligence officials about the movement of militants in the area. The gunfight started when police signalled a car to stop for checks and militants fired at the cops,"  Rai Zamirul Haq, police chief in the district, told AFP.

"In the exchange of fire, we killed four militants. Two police officials were also injured by two grenades hurled at them by the militants," he said.

Police said they also found chemicals for potential use in a attack stored in the militants' vehicle, which was also confiscated for further investigation.

"By seizing such large quantity of weapons and explosives and killing these militants, we have foiled a major attempt of terror in the region. There were confirmed intelligence reports that the militants were planning major terrorist attacks in Multan and Muzaffargarh cities," Haq said.

The authorities suspect that the militants are linked to the Punjabi Taliban faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a militant outfit which has waged insurgency in the country and has killed thousands of people in suicide, bomb and gun attacks.

"The killed militants belonged to banned Punjabi Taliban's Abu-Ubaida group and we had received confirmed intelligence reports about their planned activities," Haq said.

Nabila Ghazanfar, a police spokesperson in Lahore, confirmed the killings and said that the cops had cordoned off the area to search any other militants in the region.

Another senior police official in the territory, Rehmatullah Niazi said that the bodies of the militants were being identified.