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LAHORE: Officials arrested 42 suspected militants with alleged links to the militant Islamic State (IS) group.
"The arrests were the result of raids in four Punjab cities over the weekend," said Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah.
The minister said those arrested had been tasked with setting up sleeper cells for IS, and that those arrested include the purported IS Islamabad chief Amir Mansoor, his deputy Abdullah Mansoori and the group's chief for Sindh province, Umer Kathio.
The minister said the raids also yielded IS literature and weapons.
Sanaullah said the operation against alleged IS militants was launched after a raid last week in Daska district, when 13 other IS suspects were arrested.
The minister's statements come nearly a week after the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) claimed busting an IS terror cell in Sialkot. The CTD said it arrested eight suspects and seized weapons, explosives and laptops, as well as a large number of compact discs containing publicity material, during the raid. An 'IS recruiter' was also arrested in Karachi earlier this week.
In December 2015, four well-educated men held on terrorism charges were arrested in Karachi for their involvement in the Safoora attacks, while their wives and their accomplices were accused of brainwashing educated and rich women through sermons and videos about the militant Islamic State (IS) group and other terrorist outfits.
An investigation report into the Safoora attackers in August alleged that the suspects were affiliated with Al Qaeda and IS.
Comments (36) Closed
Sleeper cells should be put permanently to sleep.
Would you believe as per the pakistani official there is no ISIS footprints inside pakistan ...
There are probably thousands. Go check out facebook.
But our foreign minister used to deny the presence of IS in Pakistan. Isn't?
----and still the Foreign and Interior Ministers claim there were no IS operatives in Pakistan!
But there is no ISIS in Pakistan.
Government/ Army should conduct a large scale operation in Punjab like it is being carried out in FATA areas.
Good job done intelligence agencies. The success or failure of this war on terror will solely depend on the success and failure of our intelligence network. The best way to destroy evil of ISIS is to nip it in the bud.
Effective intelligence based operations need to be carried out relentlessly. If given free hand, this evil will surface up and it would even be more difficult to eliminate them than TTP. So there is no room for complacency for our intelligence community and other law enforcement agencies.
@Faisal It was not there few days ago. It just came and eliminated now.
Hand over to Military courts for prosecution.
Excellent result to secret agency and police dept, But who are the real people funding these sleeper Cells?
Ch Nissar there's no ISIS in Pakistan......... but one of your minister is stating otherwise.......... what next ?.
@M.Saeed You can't trust politicians words.
dont trust Rana Sanaullah
Why the Saudi stooges in Pakistan are now silent Saudi ideology of extremism and Saudi funding of extremist madrassas are now paying its dividends in the shape of Daesh (ISIS)
Was is not sometime back that the Chowdry Nisar saying no ISIS in Pakistan ??
Eliminate ALL of them - Period!!!
We first deny....then ignore...then again deny.....and one fine day we accept we victim of terrorism..!!!
Yet the govt, FO & Mr Nisar, all are in the state of denial. Unless this is accepted, how do we go in for busting this looming menace, when it blows on our face ?
@Philosopher (from Japan) We do have any foreign minister. The denial comes from our foreign office.
What about Ghazi who supports them most?
Unless our intel agencies infiltrate these terrorist groups, we will never succeed in eliminating these terrorist groups.
There is a theory in economics that even evilish activities create jobs in the country. These terrorists groups create jobs for thousands at the cost of civil unrest. More demand for rangers, more demand for security cameras, more demand for bullet proof cars, and so on. Let them exist, find them, execute them, and keep that loop. That loop creates jobs in the country.
According to the ministers there were no IS in Pakistan until last week?
@Kabeer Because they are "brotherly nation"
only 42?
Good job. Please spread this good work across Pakistan and not just Punjab. Baluchistan and Sindh next.
@Philosopher (from Japan) And also the Pakistan Minister for Interior Affairs. Why don't they act immediately after the first indication is given about the presence of several militant groups ? No the Ministers make it a matter of their prestiege and negate such informations. They stick to their negation till the cancer takes its roots. One example also is that of Lal Masjid about which the Interior Minister is still not accepting the facts that its cleric is speaks in favour of Daesh.
First, arrest the killers of model town Lahore massacre and Lahore mall road gang rapists. Give them exemplary punishment and then move forward to IS.
IS in Pakistan is only recruiting party workers.
@Syed Hussain Akbarii .... Those clerics want IS to do their dirty work for them. Clerics never get their hands dirty.
So the world is right about us
It's interesting to see many people who still believe govt or others are serious about elimination of extremism. They both thrive on them.
where r Rangers? Are they only for Sind?
So there is IS in Pakistan.
Why not they use technology to caught them. If those terrorist could take advantage of the technology to spread their ideology and recruiting persons then why not our agencies could do the same by making an IT cell and keep eyes on so many radicalized minds. I am sure anyone could track activities of such distorted minds at least social media is too open for that and you could easily guess what is going on with a particular person in social circle by his/her changing moods. Hope our government and security agencies could take this matter more seriously and work intelligently to counter fight with this menace.