PESHAWAR: Two militants of the banned Lashkar-i-Islam (LI) were killed on Thursday in an intelligence based operation carried out by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of police in Regi Model Town, an area on the outskirts of the provincial capital, CTD officials said.

They said the CTD planned an operation in Jumma Khan Khwar area of the township after receiving information about the presence of militants in the area.

“CTD received intelligence on Aug 30 that the militants, in Zone-IV of the township, were planning a suicide attack, attacks on security forces and police-posts besides targeted attacks,” said a statement issued by the CTD.

It added that during the operation, an intense exchange of fire took place between the raiding team and the militants for almost 30 minutes.

Later, the CTD launched a search operation in the area and recovered dead bodies of two suspected militants, the statement said. Uniform of security forces, hand grenade, arms and ammunition besides communications devices were also recovered from the area. The statement claimed that around six militants managed to escape.

Earlier on July 20, two police personnel were martyred and two others sustained injuries in a militant attack on a police post in the township.

The attack took place at around 11.45pm and officials believed the militants were equipped with night-vision devices.

“Our personnel wore bulletproof jackets and bulletproof helmets and militants opened fire at them from a distance of around 50 metres. Headshots and that too precisely forehead shots were only possible without night-vision goggles,” Superintendent of Police Arshad Khan told Dawn.

The SP said militants attacked the police team with US made M-4 rifles and the investigation team had recovered around 21 empties from the spot.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2023