File Photo. Asif Hassan—AFP
Police claim the dead were caught in crossfire and killed by their own men.
Seven extremists were killed in a shootout in Punjab province as police raided the group suspected of launching attacks on security posts, officials said on Sunday.
Gunfire erupted between police and 10 suspected militants early Sunday morning in a house where the group was holed up. Police said bullets from their own men killed the dead seven.
“When the firing stopped, seven terrorists were found dead by the firing of their own accomplices and the remaining escaped in the darkness of the night,” a police statement said.
The shootout occurred in Sheikhupura, about 56 kilometers west of Lahore.
Police said the Islamists belonged to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and the banned sectarian group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ). They were accused of planning attacks on security posts and law enforcement agencies in Punjab.
The LeJ group has claimed responsibility for some of the most brazen attacks on Shias in Pakistan’s recent history, including a January 2013 bombing in Quetta that killed over 100 members of the Shia Hazara minority group.