DERA ISMAIL KHAN: An officer of the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) was gunned down in Dera Ismail Khan’s Muslim Bazaar on Tuesday.
According to police, the firing incident took place near Qureshi Walan area when unidentified armed assailants opened fire on the CTD official. He was being moved to a nearby hospital but he died on the way.
The identity of the deceased couldn’t be ascertained as yet. The police cordoned off the area to collect evidence. Further investigation is underway, said the police.
An infamous incident of Sahiwal encounter led by CTD officials, that killed three unarmed members of an innocent family, triggered a nationwide debate on ‘absolute powers’ given to law enforcers to kill anyone.
Four people, including two women, were killed in a shady encounter involving the Punjab police’s Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) on a highway in the Qadirabad area of Sahiwal district on Jan 19.
The Sahiwal incident sent shock waves across the country after one of the surviving children who witnessed the episode refuted the version of the CTD.
The CTD had identified one of the deceased as Zeeshan. The department says he was wanted in several cases of crime, including the kidnapping of Ali Haider Gilani, the son of former premier Yousuf Raza Gilani, and several American citizens. It also says he was the deputy chief of a banned outfit.