CTD says Mohammad Hussain (R) and Mohammad Ayaz (L) were shot dead when attackers opened fire on a police convoy transporting them from Sahiwal jail.
Courtesy: X/@khorasandiary
Two militants accused of orchestrating a deadly 2021 attack on workers at Pakistan's Dasu Dam project were reportedly killed by their own associates while being transferred due to security threats, authorities said on Friday.
On July 14, 2021, terrorists targeted workers of the Dasu Hydropower Project, killing 13 people, including 9 Chinese engineers and 4 Pakistani nationals. More than 20 others were injured in the incident.
The blast hit a bus carrying workers to a dam construction site in northern Pakistan. Two Pakistani soldiers were also among the dead.
The development follows the killing of two Chinese engineers claimed by a separatist militant group last week. The attack near the airport in Pakistan's port city of Karachi was claimed by the banned separatist outfit Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), raising concerns over the security of Chinese nationals in the South Asian nation.
A member of the Airport Security Force ASF stands guard near the wreckage of vehicles after an explosion near Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, Pakistan October 6, 2024.
Reuters
About today's attack, the country's Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) said the militants, Mohammad Hussain and Mohammad Ayaz, were shot dead when attackers opened fire on a police convoy transporting them from Sahiwal jail. The ambush occurred near Samundri Road, where unknown militants attempted to free the prisoners.
CTD spokesperson stated that, based on a threat alert from the Interior Ministry, five terrorists—including the masterminds behind the Dasu attack, Muhammad Hussain and Ayaz—along with three others, Salim Khan, Abu Bakr, and Latifullah, were arrested. Due to security concerns, they were being transferred from Sahiwal jail in two police vans, he added.
Courtesy: Google Maps
As the convoy approached Samundri Road, unknown assailants attacked one of the vans in an attempt to free their accomplices. In the exchange of gunfire, two terrorists were killed.
The spokesperson identified the deceased as Muhammad Hussain and Ayaz K. He confirmed that the police and CTD personnel remained unharmed.
The spokesperson added that the slain militants, both masterminds of the Dasu Dam attack, were facing life imprisonment.
Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi gestures as he speaks during an interview with Reuters at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) office in Islamabad, Pakistan March 1, 2020.Reuters
Pakistan's then-foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi attributed the attack to the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). "As per our investigation, Afghan soil was used for this incident... regarding its planning and execution, we're seeing a clear nexus between NDS and RAW," Qureshi said, referring to Afghanistan’s and India's intelligence agencies.
However, in a Telegram message sent to a Reuters reporter, the TTP denied it carried out the attack.
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