Police kill 2 militants, seize weapons in eastern Pakistan

Counter-terrorism Police in Pakistan claimed to have killed two militants from al-Qaeda subcontinent chapter in eastern Punjab province. Police also seized arms and ammunition from the encounter site.

Multan: Pakistan’s counter-terrorism police said they killed two militants belong to an al-Qaeda subcontinent chapter in an overnight operation in eastern Punjab province.

In a statement Saturday, police said the militants had plans to carry out “subversive activities” in the district of Dera Ghazi Khan. The intelligence-based operation was underway at the militants' hideout in Choti Bala area when they opened fire on the raiding party, triggering a shootout, said Imran Asghar, a counterterrorism official.

Read:|Ex-Afghan TV presenter killed in explosion in Kabul

He said that two other militants escaped in the dark and police seized arms and ammunition.

The Dera Ghazi Khan district is where Pakistan's three provinces - Baluchistan, Sindh and Punjab - meet, and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province is not far. Militants from insurgency-wracked Baluchistan and fighters linked to the banned Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, often take shelter in the district.

AP