Islamabad, May 21 (IANS): The country head of Al Qaeda in Pakistan, Tayyab Nawaz alias Hafiz Abdul Mateen, was killed during an armed offensive by police in the country's east Multan city.

Al Qaeda commander was gunned down with his seven other accomplices on Thursday night when police raided a hideout of suspected militants at the river bank of Multan, a main district in the country's east Punjab province, Xinhua quoted Dawn News as saying.

Police said that the militants were holding a meeting to carry out an attack at a prominent university in the city, when the cops conducted the raid by acting on an intelligence tip-off.

The bodies of the killed militants were shifted to Nishtar Hospital of Multan for investigations and autopsy where Mateen was identified.

The resident of northwest Dera Ismail Khan area, the commander was wanted in pertaining to murder of a senior army officer and attack on Parade Lane bombing in the country's east Punjab province on December 4, 2009 in which 36 people were killed.

Police in Multan region issued a threat, following the killing of the militants, saying that the Al Qaeda could target educational institutes in Punjab where security needed to be beefed up.