Published 08:44 IST, June 20th 2019
Pakistan security forces kill 2 terrorist linked to abduction of ex-PM Yousaf Raza Gilani's son
Two suspected ISIS terrorists, who were allegedly involved in the abductions of former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani's son and a US national, were killed by Pakistani security agencies in Punjab province, police said Thursday.
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Two suspected ISIS terrorists, who were allegedly involved in the abductions of former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani's son and a US national, were killed by Pakistani security agencies in Punjab province, police said Thursday.
The terrorists, identified as Muhammad Rizwan and Imran Saqi, were killed in a late night raid on a house in Multan district on Wednesday, the Punjab Police's counter-terrorism department (CTD) department said.
They were also involved in the killing of three intelligence officers.
In a statement, the CTD said it received information that five terrorists of banned terror group ISIS were hiding in a house in the district, around 350 km from Lahore.
It said a team surrounded the house and told the terrorists to surrender. "The terrorists instead of surrendering opened fire on the raiding team which returned fire, killing two terrorists on the spot while three of their accomplices managed to escape taking advantage of darkness," the CTD said.
The terrorists had planned to attack personnel of intelligence agencies. Nine hand grenades, explosives, and weapons were seized from the house, it said.
They were involved in the kidnapping of US national Warren Weinstein in 2011 and Yosuf Gilani's son Ali Haider Gilani in 2013.
Weinstein, who was abducted from Lahore, was accidentally killed in a US drone strike in 2015 on the Afghan border, while Haider Gilani was rescued from Afghanistan after three years.
The terrorists had also killed two police officers in Faisalabad in an attempt to kidnap a senior law enforcement officer.Earlier this year, security agencies killed two other members of the group in Faisalabad in Punjab province.
On the terror front, Pakistan has failed to complete 25 of the 27 action points given by the international terror financing watchdog FATF to check funding to terrorist groups such as LeT and JeM and frontal groups like Jamat-ud-Dawah and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation.
With this, multilateral lenders like the IMF, the World Bank and the EU may continue downgrading Pakistan, making its financial situation more precarious.
The Paris-headquartered Financial Action Task Force has asked Pakistan to explain whether it has launched an investigation into the USD seven million allocated to maintain schools, madrasas, clinics and ambulances originally operated by terror groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, and LeT fronts Jamat-ud-Dawah and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation.
JuD and FIF are founded by terror mastermind Hafiz Saeed.
08:23 IST, June 20th 2019