LAHORE - Four commanders of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi were killed in a shootout with the Punjab’s Counter Terrorism Department near Sheikhupura, an official said on Wednesday.

A spokesman for the CTD said that the terrorists were involved in “killing of hundreds of people” in different parts of the country.

The provincial governments had announced millions of rupees on their capture.

Three of the four dead terrorists were identified by CTD officials as Rizwan alias Asif Chotu, Dr Shakirullah alias Ali Sufiyan and Noor-ul-Amin. The identification of the fourth militant was yet to be ascertained.

The shootout took place near Sheikhupura Railway crossing on Tuesday night at about 10.30pm.

A CTD team set up a special picket and started snap-checking in Sheikhupura area after they received actionable intelligence about the gang’s movement.

Seven terrorists riding on four motorcycles were coming to Lahore when counter terror operatives signaled them to stop for checking at the picket.  When the CTD officials signalled the suspected motorcyclists to stop, they turned towards the bypass road and opened indiscriminate firing.

The policemen took positions and retaliated with full force.

“When the firing was stopped, four terrorists were found dead while three of their accomplices managed to escape during the crossfire,” the spokesman said.

The police party also recovered two Kalashnikovs, two pistols, three-kg explosive material and bullets from the scene. Raids were underway till late last night to arrest the fleeing terrorists, the spokesman said.

According to initial investigations, Rizwan alias Asif Chotu belonged to Muzaffargarh district. Presently, he was running the banned outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.

“Chotu was directly involved in killing of hundreds of people in Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and KPK provinces.”

According to the CTD spokesman, “Indirectly, he was involved in killing of more than 200 citizens”. Chotu had three million rupees on his head.  Dr Shakirullah alias Ali Sufiyan was the resident of KPK province.

He was chief of the LeJ in KPK and wanted to the provincial police in killing of more than 50 people.  Noor-ul-Amin also belonged to KPK province and he had killed more than 20 people including police Inspector Raja Saqlain. The government had announced one million rupees on his head.

The CTD spokesman termed the terrorists as “merciless killing machines” and said, “A big chapter of terrorism and target killings has been closed today.”