ISLAMABAD, Dec 4: Suspected terrorists are reportedly leaving Bhara Kahu to evade police who has mounted a search for them in the area, sourced told Dawn on Wednesday.

The operation has been launched after recent incidents in which Naseeruddin Haqqani, the son of Tehrik-i-Taliban Haqqani group’s Chief Jalaluddin Haqqani, was allegedly assassinated, and another terrorist, Hamamd Adil, was arrested along with an explosive leaden vehicle.

Besides, a seven-member group of terrorists which had planned a suicide attack at a worship place in Bhara Kahu in August on Eid day used to live in the area and operated from there.

Keeping in view their presence in the area, the Special Branch of the capital police mounted intelligence and started collecting data of the people residing there, the sources added.

In this regard, Bhara Kahu was divided into four zones and about 20 police teams were deployed there to gather data, the sources said.

However, they added that the police found scores of houses locked from outside as their residents had left shortly after the operation was launched.

Their neighbours told the teams that majority of the occupants were male in their 20s and 30s, but few of them resided with their families, the sources said.

Their (suspected terrorists’) activities were suspicious as they did not interact with their neighbours and were rarely spotted outside their houses.

They resided in the area as students, employees of private companies or scavengers, the sources added.

Soon after Haqqani’s murder, intelligence did a recce of the area and found people from North and South Waziristan, Wana, Swat, Hangu, Dir, Parachinar, Orakzai Agency, Kohat and Kurram Agency residing there, the sources said.

A large number of Afghans had also made the area their abode, though they did not hold cards issued by the National Aliens Registration Authority (Nara).

As soon as the operation was launched, the suspected terrorists started leaving the area after locking their houses, the sources maintained.