ISLAMABAD: Security forces have arrested a suspected terrorist who was planning to carry out attacks in Quetta on the occasion of Defence Day.

The suspected terrorist was arrested from Quetta in an intelligence-based operation, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement.

The statement issued from the army’s General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi said that security forces recovered a remote-controlled improvised explosive device (IED) from the suspect’s possession. Moreover, some six kilogrammes of explosives and nuts and bolts were also recovered from the arrested man.

Also read: 1965 and after

The ISPR said security personnel defused another IED that had already been planted at the site from where the man was arrested. It added that during the preliminary probe, the suspected terrorist, whose name has not been revealed, had confessed to having links with India’s premier intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).

During questioning, the man also confessed to planting IEDs in Quetta on two occasions in the past, incidents in which several people were killed.

Terror bid foiled in Peshawar

The provincial police force of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on Saturday foiled a terror bid and arrested three suspected terrorists.

A special unit of KP police claims to have arrested three wanted terrorists after receiving intelligence information regarding their movements.

According to police sources, a vehicle was stopped in Mathra area of Peshawar and a explosive device weighing five kilogrammes with a timed detonator was seized.

Police sources added that the arrested individuals belonged to a proscribed organisation and were involved in attacks on polio vaccination teams and kidnapping for ransom.

Two suspected TTP commanders arrested

Security agencies, in a separate raid conducted on Saturday arrested two suspected commanders of the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) from Balochistan’s Zhob district.

“Officials of a security agency conducted a raid in Gwal Ismail Zai area of Zhob and arrested two key TTP commanders,” said a security official, who declined to be named.

Security officials also recovered arms and ammunition from the arrested individuals, added the security official.

The arrested individuals were shifted to an undisclosed location for further interrogation.

“The militants were planning on carrying out subversive activities in Quetta during the upcoming Defence Day,” added the official.

The arrests come as the country prepares to pay homage to the martyrs of the 1965 War, an occasion where the nation will reaffirm its resolve to defend the country as it did that year in case of a similar threat in the future.

Pakistan will be observing the 50th anniversary of the war this year, with a one-minute silence to be observed across the country from 9:29am to 9:30am on Sunday (Sept 6), and special prayers to be held for the martyrs along with special programmes to commemorate them.