At least six people including two policemen and two suspected militants were killed in a gun battle in Mardan after police raided a suspected militant hideout at 5am on Saturday, police and sources said. Mardan police official Shakirullah told Daily Times that police raided Afsar AliÂ’s house in Palodehri area in the Morah Killi in Choora police precincts, 15 kilometres southeast of Mardan, following a tip off that terrorists involved in attacks on music shops were hiding in the house.
The militants fired at the police, he said, killing two policemen (Choora Station House Officer Ishfaq and Fazlullah) and wounding another two (City ASP Pervez Imrani and Hoti station house officer Inspector Salim Dad). AFP said they hurled grenades and fired rockets at the police.
Sources said a woman passing by was killed in the crossfire and a civilian Azam Khan was killed as militants entered his house. Police seized three Kalashnikovs, eight hand grenades and two suicide vests from the house, Shakirullah said. Policemen from Peshawar, Swabi, Charsadda and Nowshera also took part in the operation.
Sources said Afsar Ali, the owner of the house, was wanted by police for attacks on music shops. They said the dead include Adnan, whose brother Kamran was an aide of Baitullah Mehsud in the district. They said that the police had raided the area a week ago but the militants, 25 to 40 in number, managed to flee. Four days ago, a jirga in the area assured the government that it would inform police of militant activities in the area. Local sources said many Pakistani, Uzbek and Afghani Taliban operated in the Jamra, Palodehri, Jhengra, Spinkai Ghar and Bashkhali areas of Mardan.