Pakistani police killed the wife and two children of a suspected member of Al Qaeda, Habibur Rehman, in what police said was an exchange of gunfire on Thursday in Pakistan’s Punjab province.
Police reported that Rehman was critically injured and taken to a local hospital where officials say he later died.
Unverified reports suggested that Rehman was wearing an explosive device and detonated the device when security forces began raiding his home further reporting, an officer was injured during the explosion.
A third child was inside the home at the time of the shooting, the two year old toddler was not harmed.
Pakistani authorities claim that Rehman was the alleged mastermind of an attack on Pakistani army’s headquarters in Rawalpindi in 2009. Authorities believe Rehman was also a close aide to Mohammad Aqeel aka Dr. Usman, a key suspect in GHQ attack.
Security forces have a long and notorious history of staging gun battles in order to kill suspects instead of producing enough evidence to bring them to trial.
Dr. Lorena Brownlee 