October 31, 2007	Wednesday	Shawwal 18, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Oct 30: Eleven terrorists are on the loose in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi and law enforcement agencies are hunting for them desperately, police sources said on Tuesday.

Their invisible presence added to the jitters of police as some of them were believed to behind the suicide attack close to President General Pervez Musharraf’s Camp Office in Rawalpindi on Tuesday which killed seven persons and injured 14 others.

“We have not been provided specific information or details but intelligence agencies say a new group of six would-be suicide bombers — three men and three women — has entered Islamabad,” Senior Superintendent of the Islamabad police (SSP) Taimur Ali Khan told Dawn.

Five other terrorists have already been on the loose since August when a group of 10 arrived to avenge the military assault on Lal Masjid. Five of the group carried out two suicide attacks in Rawalpindi and one in Sargodha and were subsequently arrested by Islamabad police.

The new group of six was believed to have arrived to avenge the current military operations against the pro-Taliban elements in Swat.

Security has been beefed up around the government buildings and diplomatic missions and personnel in Islamabad as they were said to be the prime target of the new arrivals. Some of the foreign missions, including the Iraqi embassy, recently received threats from the terrorists.

SSP Khan quoted the intelligence agencies as saying the six terrorists were affiliated with the local Taliban or Al-Qaeda and that the police and security forces were also on their hit list.

Bus stations serving inter-city traffic, shopping centres, motels, sarais and seminaries in the urban and rural areas of the twin cities are being particularly watched by police, he said, adding that members of the group might have split and staying at different places.