IED event in Katlang in Mardan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa area, Pakistan on Mon 27th February 2023

One Superintendent of Police (SP) and two Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorists were killed while three other Policemen sustained injuries in an exchange of fire with terrorists during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in Katlang area of Mardan District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the wee hour of February 27, reports Dawn. Earlier, The Khorasan Diary reported that one SP was killed and unspecified number of personnel sustained injuries. Mardan District Police Officer (DPO) Najeebur Rehman said that a Police team headed by Rural Superintendent of Police (SP) Aijaz Khan Sherpao headed to the Katlang area on the reported presence of terrorists. He said that upon spotting the Police team, the terrorists opened fire. “The militants also threw a grenade due to which SP Sherpao was martyred,” the DPO added. Rural Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Naseem Khan and two constables, Mansoor and Saleem, were injured in the incident. Two terrorists were killed in the exchange of fire. The terrorists were identified as top ‘commander’ and high value target of the TTP’s Haris Group, Hassan Qadir Yousufzai alias Mohsin Qadir and his associate Abbas alias Essa, reports The Khorasan Diary. Mohsin Qadir was the main TTP ‘commander’ of Mardan and Nowshera region responsible for providing stop overs and bomb making materials to groups that could manage to infiltrate from Afghanistan. He was wanted for multiple counts of target killings and bomb attack. He was an ex-serviceman who abandoned the service and joined TTP in 2010. The second terrorist killed in the operation is Abbas, who was the brother in law of Mohsin Qadir. He was an IED expert and was wanted for multiple target killings and extortions.