PESHAWAR: Three suspected militants were killed and three policemen and two army personnel injured in an overnight encounter in the Shahpur area.

An official told Dawn that the killed militants included their ‘commander’, Khalil, who was involved in a recent spate of targeted killings of members of the law enforcement agencies and some other people.

According to a senior police officer, the suspects opened fire when a flour mill near the Shahpur grid station in Chamkani was raided on Friday night. A man was arrested along with his family from the compound during the encounter.

Weapons, explosives seized from flour mill

After the exchange of fire began, reinforcements were rushed to the place, backed by armoured personnel carriers, and the police force was also joined by troops.

The security personnel cordoned off all the roads leading to the place and the area reverberated with gunfire for hours.

Peshawar police chief Tahir Khan said at a press conference that the militants hiding in the compound opened fire with automatic weapons on the policemen who entered the area at about 11pm.

The encounter continued till 5am on Saturday.

The official said the entire area had been searched and a large number of weapons had been seized.

Items used to prepare improvised explosive devices and suicide vests were also seized.

Four Kalashnikov rifles, four pistols, six grenades, 600 detonators, a big quantity of explosives, components of suicide vests, dry batteries, literature and other documents were seized during the search.

Mr Khan said the seized maps, documents and mobile phones could help in the investigation.

A Chamkani police official said the arrested man, three women and three children were in the custody of the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD).

Umer Khan Afridi, the Station House Officer of Gulbahar, and Inspector Zia Khan were injured. They were admitted to the Lady Reading Hospital.

Another police officer said Khalil was a member of a banned militant group which was active in Peshawar and was planning to carry out a major terrorist attack in the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after the recent similar acts in Quetta and Parachinar.

“Police got information about their presence, otherwise the group might have carried out a terrorist attack in the city, possibly on the eve of Eidul Fitr,” the official said.

He said another militant leader, Mustafa, had been killed some days ago in Chamkani and police had seized 5kg of explosives in Qazi Kili.

The group was known for targeted attacks and preparation of explosives but police had succeeded in neutralising about 75 per cent of the network after diligent efforts, the official said.

Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2017