Church attack suspects killed in encounter

MULTAN: Four suspected militants, including two linked to a bloody attack on a church last year, were killed in a shootout with the police early on Sunday.

Multan police chief Iftikhar Ahmed Chaudhry said the two men suspected in the church attack were being transported in a police convoy when it was attacked by unidentified men near the small town of Kehrore Pucca, some 100 km southeast of Multan. The gunmen in a white Suzuki and armed with Kalashn-ikovs attacked the police party, burst the vehicle’s tyres and freed their accomplices at the Rind Jada Pul on Saturday night. “Police chased the accused and after a shootout killed four people, including the two suspected in the church attack,” a police spokesman in Krore Pukka said. “One of the attackers fled.”

The officer said the two suspects, both members of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, were being taken to recover arms and ammunition they had said were hidden on the outskirts of the city. The two dead attackers were later identified as Hafeezullah and Shahnawaz, both also Lashkar members. The men were held over an attack on October 28 in which masked men sprayed automatic gunfire at the congregation of St Dominic’s Church in Bahawalpur. — Agencies

Home | Main