Pakistan's most wanted sectarian terrorist and patron-in-chief of outlawed Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Riaz Basra and terrorist Shakeel alias Hamza were among four militants killed early Tuesday in a fierce gunbattle with residents and police at Kot Chaudhry Sher Muhammad Ghulvi, some 20 kilometres from Mailsi, police said.
Four rocket launchers and as many kalashnikovs among other heavy arms were recovered from the dead militants. Riding in a car (No 9520 DG Khan), the terrorists came at Kot Sher Muhammad Ghulvi at about 3am on Tuesday. They parked their car near the house of Chaudhry Fida Hussain Ghulvi, the district president of banned Tehrik-e-Jaffaria, and came out with arms.
As the people on the roofs in the village challenged them why they had come there, the terrorists started firing. The villagers and the house of Fida retaliated the fire. Vehari police chief Syed Javed Ali Shah and DSP Habib Ahmad Ghumman along with heavy police contingents reached the spot and joined the encounter with villagers. The terrorists tried to escape but were killed after an hour-long encounter.
The police brought the dead bodies to District Headquarters Hospital for autopsy. Multan DIG Chaudhry Iftikhar Ahmad Waraich also visited the spot. The two of the four terrorists were clean shaven while the other two were bearded.
"Riaz Basra was one of the four assailants and he is dead. The country is rid of the most dangerous terrorist," said Javed Shah. The inspector general of Punjab police also confirmed Basra's death.
Basra, who carried a head money of Rs five million, was founder of extremist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which was outlawed in 2001 August. Javed said another dead militant had been identified as Shakeel Hamza, wanted in the murder of a senior police officer in Lahore. The two others remained unidentified. All the terrorists were from 30 to 35 years old. |
