LANDI KOTAL: The security forces in Landi Kotal on Friday foiled a possible act of terrorism by seizing an explosives-laden car in the main bazaar.

Operational commander of Khyber Rifles Major Qasim told reporters that the seized car carried 240kg explosives and was parked at the main Bacha Khan Chowk of Landi Kotal Bazaar.

He said the security forces had prior information about the militants’ intentions to target key government installations by car bombing.

Major Qasim said after spotting the car, the forces cordoned off the Landi Kotal Bazaar, seized the car, drove it away to a safe location and disconnected electric wires attached to the explosives packed in eight plastic canes to foil the terrorist plan.

BEHEADED BODY FOUND: The security forces seized the beheaded body of a man in Gudd Malang area of Bara tehsil on Friday.

The slain man, later identified as Jahangir of Peshawar, had a piece of paper on it reading those not obeying Lashkar-i-Islam orders will meet similar fate.

Also in the day, a man was critically injured when a stray mortar shell fell on his moving vehicle in Malikdinkhel area.

Meanwhile, volunteers of Al-Khidmat Foundation told Dawn that they had received 200 more displaced families from Bara at their registration point on Ring Road in Peshawar.

LI CALLS FOR JOINT RESISTANCE AGAINST FORCES: Meanwhile, the Lashkar-i-Islam has called other outlawed militant groups operating in the country to join it in fighting security forces in Bara.

LI chief Mangal Bagh told Dawn over the telephone from an undisclosed location that his outfit had invited all militant groups in the country to join it to put up a joint resistance against security forces in Bara.

He said before the military began an operation against LI on last Thursday, he had always strived to keep all militant groups out of Bara and ensure security of local residents.

“Now when the government has ordered Bara residents to vacate their houses, we will teach the security forces a lesson but our resistance will not harm ordinary civilians,” he said.

Mangal Bagh claimed hundreds of Tirah and Bara families had migrated to Afghanistan considering Pakistani soil unsafe for them.

Published in Dawn, October 25th , 2014