PESHAWAR: Pakistani police on Tuesday killed a an alleged militant wanted over terror attacks including the murder last year of an official with the Iranian consulate, officials said.
Police acting on a tip-off surrounded a house in the northwestern city of Peshawar where the man, named Amanullah, had been hiding, local police chief Liaquat Ali said.
A gun battle broke out and Amanullah was killed, he said, adding that two police officials were wounded in the clash, which lasted about half an hour.
“Amanullah, who had close links with militant outfits, was wanted in a number of criminal and terrorist acts including the murder of an Iranian consulate official, Abu Al-Hasan Jaffry,” he said.
“He was also accused of providing vehicles to at least three suicide car bombers,” Ali said.
Jaffry, a Pakistani who was director of public relations and protocol at the Iranian consulate in Peshawar, was shot dead at point blank range as he set off for work in November 2009.
Peshawar runs into Pakistan’s tribal district on the Afghan border, which US officials call the most dangerous place and a sanctuary for Taliban and al-Qaida-linked militants.
The teeming city of 2.5 million people has been hit by a wave of suicide bombings and gun attacks.
Suicide attacks and bomb blasts across Pakistan have killed more than 3,300 people since 2007. Blame has fallen on Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants bitterly opposed to the country’s alliance with the United States.
Pakistan has also been hit by incidents of sectarian violence in the past.
Shiites, who are in the majority in Iran, account for about 20 per cent of Pakistan’s mostly Sunni Muslim population of 167 million.
More than 4,000 people have died in sectarian violence in Pakistan since the 1980s.
Be First to Comment