LeJ leader among four terrorists killed in Sheikhupura encounter: CTD

SHEIKHUPURA: Four terrorists including the chief of banned terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) were killed by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) in an alleged encounter near Sheikhupura late Wednesday night, a CTD spokesperson confirmed.

Among the dead was the notorious Rizwan alias Asif Chotu, leader of LeJ who was nominated in over 100 murder cases and had a head money of Rs 3,000,000.

Two of the others were identified as Dr. Shakirullah alias Ali Sufyan and Noor-ul-Amin, while one dead terrorist is yet to be identified.

According to the CTD, the terrorists had been preparing to launch an attack on staff and offices of a sensitive agency in Lahore. For this purpose they were coming on four motorcycles from Farooqabad towards Sheikhupura for onward journey to Lahore.

On receiving this information, the CTD team blockaded the Railway Phatak Sheikhupura at about 10:30 PM on Wednesday. The team announced to the terrorists to surrender, but they turned towards Cattle Market on Bypass where they assumed positions and started firing indiscriminately on the police party chasing them. The police responded and found four terrorists dead while three terrorists succeeded in fleeing from the scene.

Two Kalashnikovs, two pistols, 3kg explosives, prima cord, live bullets, etc. were recovered from the terrorists. Meanwhile, investigation has been launched for arrest of the fleeing terrorists, the CTD spokesperson added.

Profile of dead terrorists

Rizwan alias Asif Chotu belonged to district Muzaffargarh. He was heading LeJ and was directly involved in killing more than 100 citizens of Pakistan in Punjab, Sindh, KP and Balochistan. Indirectly, he was involved in killing of more than 200 citizens. He was in prison from 2005 to 2012. In 2012 he was released on bail after which he became a Proclaimed Offender and killed dozens more people.

Dr. Shakir alias Ali Sufyan belonged to KP. He was LeJ Ameer of KP and had killed more than 50 people in KP and Punjab.

Noor-ul-Amin belonged to KP. He had killed more than 20 people including Police Inspector Raja Saqlain of Rawalpindi. There was a head money of Rs. 1,000,000 on his head.