Mianwali (TDI):The Punjab Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) claimed on Monday to have killed seven terrorists during an operation when fire exchanged in a bid to arrest militants in the Mianwali district.
The CTD is responsible for gathering intelligence and operations against terrorists across the province.
“Seven dangerous unidentified terrorists of Fitna-al-Khawarij were killed [while] eight fled,” the CTD said in a statement, referring to the official term for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Read More:TTP Emerges as Global Terror Umbrella: Pakistan
The statement said that incident took place when Punjab CTD carried out an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in Mianwali’s Makarwal area and tried to arrest terrorists. Terrorists opened fire on the CTD team and so exchange of fire.
During an intense exchange of fire, seven terrorists were “killed by the firing of their accomplices [while] eight terrorists escaped taking advantage of the dark”, the CTD said.
CTD claimed that it recovered six hand grenades, seven Kalashnikovs, safety fuse wire, as well as bullets and explosives from the terrorists.
“The terrorists had completed planning a major attack on Mianwali,” the statement said.
Also Read: Nine Terrorists Arrested in Punjab
A search operation to arrest the escaped terrorists had been going and the area was cordoned off . CTD said that it had set up a blockade near Makarwal. The process of identifying the dead terrorists was under way as well, it added.
A statement last week said that the Punjab CTD said had apprehended 18 terrorists belonging to banned organisations during 134 IBOs conducted across Punjab.
According to daily, Dawn, Pakistan has experienced an increase in terrorist attacks as a total of 45 of them occurred countrywide in September compared to 59 attacks in the previous month, according to a digital database maintained by the Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS), an Islamabad-based think-tank.
