By WAQAR GILLANI
At least three militants were killed in a gun battle with the police and intelligence officers early Monday during a nighttime raid on their hide-out in easternPakistan, officials said. Another militant blew himself up after setting off his explosive-filled jacket, while two more people were arrested by the security forces after the shootout, the officials said.
The gun battle took place in Ferozwala, a small town in the Sheikhupura district of Punjab Province.
“The raid was conducted after an intelligence tip,” said a security official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “We learned that militants were living in a house in Pathan Colony and were planning a terrorist attack,” the official said, referring to the residential neighborhood.
Police officers surrounded the house at 2 a.m. Monday and killed the three men in a heavy exchange of gunfire that lasted four hours, the officials said.
They said they seized a huge cache of weapons, including suicide vests and five Kalashnikov rifles, along with several laptops. The two suspects under arrest were moved to a hospital in Lahore, the provincial capital.
Shuja Khanzada, the provincial home minister, said the men belonged to Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and planned to attack targets in Lahore.
On Sunday, security agencies raided a house in an upscale neighborhood of Lahore and arrested a man they said was also a member of Tehrik-e-Taliban and had been wanted in connection with terrorism cases in Punjab Province since 2010. The suspect, Hassan Zaheer, was accused of providing funds to the Taliban. Foreign currency and weapons were captured with him, the officials said.
Taliban militants have long maintained sanctuaries in Pakistan’s semiautonomous tribal regions, especially North Waziristan. But a military operation that began last year has displaced the militants, and their leadership is on the run. The military operation in North Waziristan is continuing.
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