PESHAWAR: Four militants including a militant commander and an Afghan national were killed in an encounter with Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of police in Badhber area of Peshawar on Wednesday night.

A statement issued by CTD said that the department received information about possible movement of armed terrorists of the banned Fitna-ul-Khawarij, a term used by the state for Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, in Badhber area. It said that earlier, militant commander Tahir alias Muawiya, a resident of Shakas in Khyber tribal district, along with his other associates, was seen roaming the area to challenge writ of the government.

The statement said special teams of CTD were constituted to monitor routes and arrest the group. It read that suspected persons riding on two motorcycles were signalled to stop but they abandoned the motorcycles on the spot and opened fire on the police party.

It said that the CTD personnel retaliated. An exchange of fire took place which continued for approximately 20 to 30 minutes. After the firing stopped, a search operation was conducted and bodies of four terrorists were found while others managed to escape, it added.

The statement said that identification of militants was under way. It said that CTD team recovered three small machineguns, a pistol, a hand grenade, a mobile phone, three magazines and several rounds from killed militants.

It said that during the search, an Afghan identity card was recovered from the pocket of one of the killed terrorists that was issued in the name of Aman Khan from Kunar province of Afghanistan. It added that photograph on the identity card matched the killed militant.

In addition, both motorcycles used by terrorists were taken into custody. The bomb disposal unit (BDU) and crime scene unit were called while the search operation for the arrest of the absconding militants continued, said the statement.

Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2026