Variety of explosive materials recovered including suicide vests, detonators, safety cables and prohibition stickers.
LAHORE:
The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) on Tuesday arrested 16 suspected terrorists, including a suicide bomber, during Intelligence Based Operations (IBO) conducted in several cities of Punjab, a CTD spokesperson said.
According to the spokesperson, a total of 113 IBOs were carried out across the province, targeting areas such as Khushab, Mianwali, Rawalpindi, Jhang, Bhakkar, Lahore, Faisalabad, Chakwal, Toba Tek Singh, Hafizabad and Gujranwala.
Authorities said a “dangerous suicide bomber linked to Fitna al-Khawarij” was arrested in Jhang, along with a suicide vest and explosive material.
Fitna al-Khawarij is the state-designated term for the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
In a separate operation in Sargodha, a suspect identified as Malkay Khan was arrested for his alleged involvement in attacks on security facilities.
The spokesman said the suspects had planned to attack police checkpoints, but the plots were “thwarted thanks to timely action.”
A variety of explosive materials were recovered during the operations, including suicide vests, detonators, safety fuse cables, prohibited stickers, prohibited literature and cash.
Some of the arrested suspects were identified as Moin Khan, Asil Din, Nasir Shah, Marjan, Malle Khan, Naseeb Khan, Ali Abdullah, Saifullah, Arif Khan and Abrarul Haq, the CTD said.
Also read: 13 terrorists killed in two separate IBOs in KP, says army
The spokesperson added that 2,830 tracing operations were also carried out during the week, during which 95,755 people were questioned and 190 suspects were arrested.
The CTD said operations against militant networks would continue across the province without interruption.
In January, six terrorists were killed during a CTD operation in Mianwali after being attacked by their own accomplices. During the operation, the suspects opened fire on the CTD personnel. In the exchange of fire, six militants were killed by gunfire from their own associates, while eight others managed to escape.
The CTD said it recovered a suicide vest, three hand grenades, six machine guns, around 200 bullets and other explosive material from the scene.
In December last year, Punjab Inspector General of Police Dr Usman Anwar issued a province-wide high security alert and ordered the immediate launch of sweeping and combing operations in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Multan and other districts of the province.
The IGP ordered profiling and data verification of all persons entering the province from other regions. He had said monitoring of all banned organisations, including TLP, should continue regularly, and door-knocking campaigns should be intensified to track down possible militants and miscreants.
