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LAHORE: Eleven suspected ‘hardcore terrorists’ were arrested in a ‘combing operation’ conducted by the army in Shahdara here on Saturday.
According to an official of the Inter-Services Public Relations, the operation was launched on an intelligence report about the presence of terrorists in the suburbs of the city. The operation continued for more than three hours and led to the arrest of 11 members of a sleeper cell of a terrorist organisation. A huge cache of arms and ammunition was also seized.
According to sources, two of the arrested terrorists belong to Jamaatul Ahrar, a splinter group of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Earlier, the Punjab home department had issued an alert, warning that the TTP’s Fazlullah group had sent two suicide attackers to strike at the Wagah border near Lahore or the Ganda Singh border in Kasur.
The alert advised the authorities to enhance vigilance at the two places and improve security measures to prevent any untoward incident.
According to the spokesman for the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), 96 combing operations were recently conducted in various cities of Punjab, during which 45 suspected terrorists were arrested and booked in 16 FIRs. Arms, ammunition and explosive material were seized from the possession of 16 suspects. Besides, as many as 3,373 people were questioned.
In Lahore, the CTD detained more than 150 suspects during a combing operation in various areas, including Saddar, Iqbal Town, Cantonment and City divisions.
The operation was conducted in Shahdara Town, Data Darbar, Nawab Town, Chuhng, Hanjarwal, Niazi Bus Stand, Sherakot, Labanwala village, Dargah Bhola Pir and Chamiyanwala village.
Published in Dawn, August 14th, 2016
