The two suspected gunmen Islamabad police shot dead last night have been identified as the alleged rapists in the F-9 Park rape case, according to a police spokesperson.

Islamabad police shot dead two suspected gunmen in an alleged encounter in Islamabad’s D-12 area late Wednesday.

Police claimed that the men fired at a police checkpoint and were killed in retaliatory fire.

The development comes hours after reports emerged that the police had traced the two suspects in the F-9 Park rape case, but not arrested them.

The Islamab police first reported that two ‘unidentified’ motorcyclists were shot dead after they fired on the checkpoint.

It said that the bodies were being identified.

In a statement issued several hours later, the police said that the two men had been identified as the F-9 Park rapists.

They were involved in serious crimes including street robberies and were also involved in the F-9 park rape incident, the statement said.

Both men were taken to the hospital after being injured but they could not survive their wounds, the first statement said.

The police said that the checkpoints had been specially set up to improve security in the capital.

Policemen at the checkpoint remained unhurt due to personal safety measures, the police said.

Extrajudicial killing?

However, there are claims that it was a fake encounter and that the police had already arrested the suspects.

Journalist Saqib Bashir claimed in a tweet that the police found the accused after tireless efforts, arrested them, got them identified by the victim, and then killed them in an “incident” late at night.

A thousand phones and 200 suspects

Police were actively looking for suspects after a woman was raped in F-9 Park on February 2.

She had gone for a stroll in the park with a male friend when two men approached them, chased off the friend and raped her.

Police interrogated at least 200 people and paraded them before the victim for identification, but she said the rapists were not among them, police sources told Aaj News.

The 200 men were briefly held after police and intelligence agencies used geo-fencing to identify all the people who were at the F-9 Park at the time of the rape on February 2.

Geo-fencing is a technique that allows you to determine which mobile devices were being used in a particular area over a particular time period.

At least 1,000 mobile devices were active in the F-9 Park around the time the woman was raped by two men.

Police used geo-fencing data and a list of criminals to round up at least 200 suspects who were paraded before the women for identification.

Contrary to some social media reports, police sources told Aaj News that the two suspects never appeared on the CCTV footage obtained from several cameras at the park. They were not seen leaving the park.

They were not seen by any of the park workers.

However, other CCTV cameras part of the Safe City network helped the police to trace the two suspects and the motorcycle they were using.