PESHAWAR: The terrorist killed in Thursday’s attack on a police vehicle in Ghaz Chowk area of Peshawar was a Da’ish hitman of Afghan origin.
“The man was a high-profile target killer wanted in several crime cases,” said a high-ranking police official while talking to The Express Tribune on Friday.
He was an Afghan national belonging to the Khorasan network of the Islamic State (IS) group active in Afghanistan and Pakistan, informed the official, adding that they were looking for his accomplice who made his escape good.
“The killing of the attacker is a major blow to the IS in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa because he was an experienced and most-feared target killer of the outfit,” he said.
Describing the scene, the police official said that policemen had arrested a drug peddler and were taking him to a police post when two miscreants ambushed their car, killing three constables on the spot and injuring the incharge head-constable.
“The terrorists had completed their job, but instead of fleeing from the area they tried to take the AK-47s of the deceased constables… and it was then that the injured head-constable opened fire, killing one of the terrorists on the spot and propelling the other to flee,” he said.
The attackers had emptied 38 rounds of AK-47 rifle and 14 9mm pistol before the police constable fired at them, he added.
During the fire exchange, the drug peddler also sneaked out of the police custody, said the police official, adding that the drug peddler was mistaken as an attacker by people in the area, and it was initially thought that the attackers were three in number. But later, he added, the injured policeman stated that the attackers were two in number, and it was actually their prisoner who had escaped.
The attackers had left behind an AK-47 rifle as well as a 9mm pistol, he said. “We also found a bike and thought that it belonged to the attackers, but it is now clear that it belonged to a passerby,” he said.
