Lahore, Jan 31 (PTI) Pakistan police on Tuesday said they have shot dead a TTP militant, who they believe was involved in the assassination of two officials of the country’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) earlier this month.
Umar Khan Niazi, a Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant, who escaped to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province after allegedly killing two ISI officers in Khanewal district in Pakistan’s Punjab province on January 5, was shot dead during an operation on Monday, the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of the Punjab Police said in a statement.
“Police and intelligence personnel raided the whereabouts of Niazi in Kurram Agency of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. He was asked to surrender but he opened fire on the team. He was shot dead during the crossfire,” the CTD said.
The ISI officers — Multan Region Director Naveed Sadiq and Inspector Nasir Abbas — met a “source” (Niazi) on January 3 this year at a roadside restaurant on the National Highway near Pirowal in Khanewal district.
“After having tea, they walked to the parking lot when the source (Niazi) pulled out a gun and shot the ISI officers dead,” the FIR said.
The FIR revealed that both ISI officers were working to bust a terror network in Punjab province.
The TTP and the Lashkar-e-Khorasan, an offshoot of Al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack.
The TTP also claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing at the Peshawar police lines mosque on Monday in which 95 people, mostly policemen were killed and over 200 injured.
In November last year, the TTP called off an indefinite ceasefire agreed with the government in June and ordered its militants to carry out attacks on the security forces.
The TTP, also known as the Pakistan Taliban, was set up as an umbrella group of several militant outfits in 2007.
Its aim is to impose its strict brand of Islam across Pakistan.
The TTP was blamed for several deadly attacks across Pakistan, including an attack on army headquarters in 2009, assaults on military bases and the 2008 bombings of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad.
In 2014, the Pakistani Taliban stormed the Army Public School in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing at least 150 people, including 131 students.
The attack sent shockwaves across the world and was widely condemned. PTI MZ VM VM
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