Shuja Khanzada was on militants' watchlist for retaliation

Official says police had increased security across Punjab province following Malik Ishaq's killing

LAHORE: Punjab Home Minister Col (retd) Shuja Khanzada had been warned he was a target for retaliation by a militant organisation after Punjab police killed Malik Ishaq, chief of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), the radical sectarian group, last month.

Khanzada was among at least 16 people killed at his political office near his hometown of Attock, about 80 km west of Islamabad.

Read: Khanzada attack in retaliation of LeJ chief's killing: sources

The minister had told Reuters that police had cautioned him to increase security and restrict his movements following the killing of LeJ’s chief in a shootout with police on July 29.

Two days after Ishaq's killing, Khanzada said that he, along with at least 20 other top politicians and senior bureaucrats in Punjab province, had been told that they could be targeted in reprisal attacks.

A Punjab police official, Haider Ashraf, said police had increased security at major government installations, issued advisories to potential targets and increased the number of checkpoints across the province following Ishaq's killing.

"Obviously they are always trying to hit us, and after Malik Ishaq's killing the threat was definitely heightened," Ashraf said.

Police have said that Ishaq, who for years lead LeJ on a spree of deadly bombings and gun attacks on Shias, was killed in a shootout during a raid as he tried to escape.

Read: PTI submits resolution in Punjab Assembly condemning Khanzada attack

Others have said his death bore the hallmarks of an extrajudicial killing.

After Sunday's suicide bombing, two smaller offshoot militant groups claimed responsibility for killing Khanzada, but police, in a preliminary report on Monday, identified Lashkar-e-Jhangvi as well as fellow militants the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan as prime suspects.

Two suicide bombers affiliated with the Taliban carried out the bombing at Khanzada's office, according to a provincial government official familiar with the report, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

Two additional suicide bombers had been deputed to Lahore to attack Khanzada's residence, the official said, but they were recalled after the Attock attack.

Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Monday vowed to "move forward with no holds barred" to take on the militants responsible.

Read: Nation will remember Shuja Khanzada's sacrifice: Shahbaz

"Today it is the responsibility of the Punjab government to honour the debt of Shuja Khanzada's death and not to show any compromise or latitude to the terrorists," Shahbaz said while chairing the cabinet meeting in Lahore.