A suspected Taliban militant today blew himself up during a police raid in central Pakistan, killing his own wife and two children, police said.
The counterterrorism raid on the house in the town of Pir Mahal triggered a shootout after someone inside began lobbing hand grenades, police official Khalid Rashid said.
He said the raid was part of the investigation into the assassination of Punjab provincial home minister Shuja Khanzada, who was killed along with 17 others in an attack by two suicide bombers in his northwestern hometown earlier this month.
Habibur Rehman, the militant who died today, was a Pakistani Taliban member, Rashid said. He said the militant initially used his wife as a human shield, but then set off the explosives when he was surrounded.
He said police seized four suicide vests, assault rifles, hand grenades and a large quantity of explosives at the house.
