RAWALPINDI: An elite force Sub-Inspector (SI) and five others, including an alleged militant, one woman and three children, were killed on Thursday during a police raid at a residence in Rawalpindi, believed to be housing a suspect involved in the attack on former Punjab home minister Col (retd) Shuja Khanzada.

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The police party raided a house near Rawalpindi's Dhamial base acting on a tip-off that a militant, wanted in the Shuja Khanzada murder case, is using it as a hideout.

As law enforcement personnel entered the house, the militant along with his wife opened fire and hurled grenades at them, police sources told DawnNews.

To avoid arrest, the couple reportedly killed themselves by exploding a hand grenade, which also killed their three children.

The deceased terrorist was identified as Mustafa alias Imran, while the woman was identified as his wife, Malika.

The children killed in the attack were three-year-olds, Sawera and Azan, and two-year-old Muhammad.

Mustafa and his wife had been living in the house as tenants since 2014 and their neighbours had complained to police about their suspicious activities in the past as well, area residents told DawnNews.

Police claimed to have detained four people during the raid, who were identified as Arif Mustafa, Zulqarnain Mustafa, Qaiser Mustafa and a woman named Sumera. All four belonged to a Karachi-based family but originally hailed from Kashmir's Rawalkot area.

Four policemen were wounded during the raid. The wounded were shifted to District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ) Rawalpindi for treatment.

The area was cordoned off and a search of the residence went under way. Police will also interrogate the four suspects who were taken into custody.

In September, the Counter-Terrorism Department had announced the arrest of a suspected facilitator of the attack on Khanzada, Qasim Muavia.

A CTD source said Muavia was a member of the Qari Sohail Group and had been on the ‘most wanted list’ of the CTD for his alleged involvement in target killings in the Attock district.

The involvement of Qari Sohail Group in the suicide attack emerged when the investigators found a motorcycle abandoned at the scene of the attack. The bike was suspected to be used by the bomber for reaching Khanzada’s dera in the Shadi Khan village of Attock, Dawn newspaper had reported.

Within a week of the announcement of Muavia's arrest, the CTD conducted an intelligence-based raid on a house in Iqbal Town Division's Sherakot area on the outskirts of Lahore.

During the 'encounter', four people suspected of involvement in the Khanzada attack were killed.

Also read: Shuja Khanzada murder: Four suspects killed in CTD 'encounter'

Shuja Khanzada was killed in a suicide attack on his political office in Shadi Khan village, Attock, in August, along with 16 others.

Two suicide bombers affiliated with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) carried out the bombing, a provincial government official had earlier said. 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.

Following the incident, a First-Information Report (FIR) had been filed by the Station House Officer (SHO) Ghulam Shabbir of the Rangoo police station on behalf of the state against those involved in the attack.

An initial investigation report given to Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif revealed that the home minister was killed in retaliation of the killing of Lashkar-i-Jhangvi chief Malik Ishaq and others.

Also read: Shuja Khanzada murder: FIR registered against unidentified attackers