PESHAWAR: The Counter-Terrorism Department claimed to have killed three suspected Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) militants in an exchange of fire in Khazana area, on the outskirts of the provincial capital on Friday.

CTD officials said they had received information that suspected IS-K militants were planning to carry out sabotage attacks.

“As soon as a special team reached Goye area, the militants fired at them,” a statement said, adding the CTD men retaliated to the fire. It said an exchange of fire continued for over 30 minutes, and as soon as the firing stopped, a search operation was launched in the area, where the officials recovered three bodies of unknown suspected militants.

The statement said five to six militants escaped. The police also recovered three Kalashnikovs, magazines, bullets, a torch, two batteries and three hand grenades from the spot. The bodies were shifted to a hospital for autopsy.

Meanwhile, another statement issued by the CTD late Friday night said all the three suspected IS associates killed in the exchange of fire were Afghan nationals.

The militants were identified from the Afghan citizen cards recovered from them as Mohammad Arif and Mohammad, residents of Kunar province, and Shamsur Rehman from Nangarhar.

The statement said the militants were wanted in different cases, including the target killing of the members of the minority communities, including Diyal Singh, Tarlok Singh, Manmohan Singh, Kashif Masih, and Maulana Ehsanul Haq and Atlas Khan.

Separately, one person sustained injuries in a suspected militant attack in the jurisdiction of Sarband police station on Thursday night.

A statement issued by the city police said unknown persons opened fire at a police party, which left one person wounded. It said the injured was immediately shifted to a hospital, and a search operation was launched against the unknown attackers.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2023