November 02, 2007	Friday	Shawwal 20, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Nov 1: Law enforcement agencies launched a wide security sweep through Islamabad and adjoining areas on Thursday after receiving intelligence that an “explosives-laden vehicle” had entered the federal capital territory.

“We have intelligence that either a jeep or a Carry van, laden with explosive, has entered the federal capital territory. It raises lot of fears and we are taking all possible security measures,” a senior police official told Dawn.

Already worried over the recent string of terrorist strikes in Rawalpindi, security chiefs immediately put possible targets, like sensitive installations and politicians, under 24-hour watch.

Gravity of the scary intelligence increased as it followed on the heels of the suicide attack on a bus carrying Pakistan Air Force personnel near Sargodha earlier in the day which killed nine people and injured many more.

This tragedy struck while the security set up had not yet recovered from the shock of a suicide bomber blowing himself up inside a high security zone in Rawalpindi where President Gen Pervez Musharraf happened to be discussing with the security chiefs the insurgency in the northwestern parts of the country.

Entry of private vehicles into the Pak Secretariat complex in Islamabad was banned after Thursday’s intelligence alert and people entering the city were strictly checked by police at the 46 pickets it has set up in the city.

A security official said several politicians, including some ministers, could be at risk. Accordingly the level of alert was raised to ‘red-alert’.

“We are taking no chances. The tightened security will ensure that whosoever is intending to carry out such attack in Islamabad will not do it so easily,” a senior police official said.

Extra police have been deployed around government buildings and at the residences of federal ministers. Concrete blocks have been placed on roads leading to the residence of Federal Interior Minister.

Suicide bombers struck twice in Rawalpindi on September 4 when one blasted a bus carrying intelligence operatives and another just blew himself up close to the General Headquarters of Pakistan Army.