LAHORE: According to police sources speaking to Dawn, two men accused of killing three Lahore police officers on Thursday were shot dead in a gunfight at a Muridke residence where they had taken a family hostage.
Police identified the suspects as father and son, Fayyaz Butt and Rehan Butt, stating they were killed in a joint operation involving Lahore police, the Counter‑Terrorism Department (CTD), Sheikhupura police and the Elite Force on Friday morning, following a prolonged pursuit from Lahore to Muridke.
Officials said the suspects seized the driver of a Lahore Waste Management Company vehicle at gunpoint and compelled him to drive them to Muridke.
Police allege that the pair shot and killed two officers in Lahore’s Badami Bagh neighborhood and another at Yateem Khana Chowk on Multan Road, while injuring three others on Thursday night.
Preliminary investigations indicate that Rehan, together with accomplices, launched the initial attack in Badami Bagh, resulting in the deaths of Sub‑Inspector Adeel Ashiq and Constable Asad.
About an hour later, the suspects reportedly opened fire on police officers stationed at the headquarters of the banned Tehreek‑i‑Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) on Multan Road, shooting indiscriminately.
On Friday, a senior official coordinating the joint operation told Dawn that a third suspect, Tariq, escaped during the chase and was last seen in Bagh, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
He added that AJK police and Punjab law‑enforcement agencies were working to locate and apprehend him.
Concerning Friday’s operation, the official said Fayyaz and Rehan were traced to a seminary in Muridke; security forces surrounded the building after arriving, although the seminary’s administration insisted the two were not inside.
To verify the claim, police confiscated the seminary’s DVR, only to discover that the cameras were non‑functional; the official noted that the device was forwarded to Lahore for forensic examination.
Meanwhile, officials said they received intelligence that the suspects had moved toward the River Ravi and were believed to be hiding in a nearby forest.
Following instructions from Punjab Inspector General of Police Abdul Kareem, officers deployed thermal drones to locate the suspects in the forest; the official added that, upon realizing they were being tracked, the suspects relocated to a densely populated area.
He recounted that the suspects stormed a house, seized the family as hostages and threatened to kill them, then opened fire on arriving police officers; during the ensuing gunfight, both Rehan and Fayyaz were killed.
He noted that Tariq had split from the pair and fled to AJK during the pursuit.
After Thursday’s attack, a police official told Dawn that the violence appeared to be retaliatory, noting that Rehan’s brother, Faizan Butt, had allegedly been killed in a prior encounter with a CTD unit that reportedly involved SI Adeel several years earlier.
The official said Faizan was believed to be affiliated with the Tehreek‑i‑Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and implicated in the killings of several police officers, adding that SI Adeel had informed senior police officials in 2024 that he was receiving death threats from Rehan.
Following that complaint, a First Information Report (FIR) was lodged against Rehan in November 2024 at Shafiqabad police station; the FIR records that Adeel alleged he received a WhatsApp call from Rehan, who threatened to kill him.