MULTAN: The Counter-Terrorism Department conducted an operation in which eight terrorists, including key Al-Qaeda commanders, were killed.

According to details, CTD recovered weapons, explosive belts and hand grenades from the slain terrorists, who had planned to target a university in Multan. However, their nefarious designs were foiled by the Counter-Terrorism Department's timely operation, which was conducted at village Nawabpur near River Chenab. CTD proceeded to take action after receiving information that Al-Qaeda members were present in the area.

A gun battle ensued in which eight terrorists were killed. Among the terrorists, three were identified as Tayyab alias Abdul Mateen, Muneeb Razzaq alias Abdul Rahman and Zeeshan alias Abu Dajana. During the operation, five or six terrorists including Yasir Punjabi and Muneeb Javed managed to escape.

Sources revealed that Muneeb and Zeeshan were involved in the murder of Brigadier Fazal Qadri in Sargodha. Tayyab alias Hafiz Abdul Mateen was the mastermind of Rawalpindi Preedy Lane blast and was an active member of Al-Qaeda. For the banned organisation, Tayyab used to look after the matters of finance and logistics.

One suicide vest, two Kalashnikov rifles, two pistols and three hand grenades were seized from the slain terrorists. Bodies of the killed terrorists have been shifted to Nishtar Hospital for postmortem.