Five suspects arrested in killing of Pakistani anti-terror court judge and family

A Pakistani policeman on duty in Pakistan's federal capital, Islamabad, on April 26, 2019. (AFP/File)

• Gunmen killed Aftab Ahmed Afridi and his family on Sunday as they travelled from Swat in northwest Pakistan to Islamabad
• A joint operation team carried out an operation in Peshawar and Khyber and arrested five suspects, police said in a statement 

ISLAMABAD: Five suspects were arrested on Monday in connection with the killing of an anti-terrorism court judge and his family members, police told local media. 
Gunmen killed Judge Aftab Ahmed Afridi and his family on Sunday as they travelled from the Swat Valley in northwest Pakistan to Islamabad. No one has as yet claimed responsibility for the shooting, which also seriously injured two of Afridi’s bodyguards and his driver. Afridi, his wife Bibi Zainab, his daughter-in-law and a three-year-old grandson died in the attack.
A police officer told Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper the killing appeared to be a “targeted attack.”
“According to the police statement issued on Monday, a joint operation team carried out an operation in Peshawar and Khyber and apprehended five suspects,” Dawn reported. “The deceased judge's son, Majid Afridi, will identify the suspects. Police added that two vehicles mentioned in the FIR [police report] have also been taken into police custody.”
The police report also named six suspects including Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Abdul Latif Afridi.
Afridi was assigned to the anti-terrorism courts in Swat two months earlier. Swat was once ruled by the Taliban and is the region where education activist Malala Yousafzai was shot by the Taliban in 2012 for advocating for girls’ education. Pakistan’s military drove the Taliban from the area in 2009.