2 suspects in fatal attacks on Lahore cops killed in Muridke fire exchange, say police

LAHORE: Two men who allegedly shot dead three police officials in Lahore on Thursday were killed during an exchange of fire with law enforcers at a house in Muridke where they had held a family hostage, police sources told Dawn. Police officials identified the suspects as a father-son duo, Fayyaz Butt and Rehan Butt, saying that they were killed in a joint operation by Lahore police, counter-terrrorism department (CTD) personnel, Sheikhpura police and Elite Force personnel on Friday morning after an hours-long chase from Lahore to Muridke. The suspects held the driver of a Lahore Waste Management Company vehicle at gunpoint and forced him to keep on driving to reach Muridke, the officials said. According to police, they allegedly shot dead two policemen in Lahore’s Badami Bagh area and one at Yateem Khana Chowk, Multan Road, besides injuring three on Thursday night. Initial police inquiries showed that the first armed attack was carried out by Rehan and his accomplices in Badami Bagh. The martyred officials were identified as Sub-Inspector (SI) Adeel Ashiq and Constable Asad. An hour later, the suspects allegedly targeted policemen deployed at the headquarters of the banned Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) on Multan Road and opened indiscriminate firing. On Friday, a senior official who coordinated the joint operation against the suspects told Dawn a third suspect, identified as Tariq, managed to flee. His last location was reported as Bagh in Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK). AJK police and the law enforcement agencies from Punjab were working to trace and arrest him, he said. About Friday’s operation, he said Fayyaz and Rehan were traced to a seminary in Muridke. Lawenforcers surrounded it after reaching the site while the seminary’s management claimed that the two were not present there. To verify the claim, police seized the seminary’s DVR, but found that the cameras were not working, he said, adding that the DVR was sent to Lahore for forensic analysis. Meanwhile, law