LAHORE: The Punjab Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) claimed on Saturday to have arrested 10 suspected militants belonged to different banned organisations during operations in separate areas of the province.

According to the spokesperson, CTD conducted 73 intelligence-based operations in different districts of the province to effectively deal with any untoward incident of terrorism, in which 73 suspects were questioned and 10 terrorists were arrested along with weapons, explosives and other prohibited material.

He said that two of the suspected terrorists, Riaz and Shafiq belonging to TTP while others Javed, Zaheer, Wazir, Rashid, Zaheeruddin, Hafiz, Asif, and Waheed were affiliated with Fitna Khawarij and other organisations.

He said these terrorists were arrested during intelligence-based operations in Rawalpindi, Toba Tek Singh, Khushab, Bahawalnagar, Rahim Yar Khan, Rajanpur, Jhelum, and Bhakkar.

He said the officials also recovered explosives, detonators, safety fuse wire, one IED bomb, banned organization’s pamphlets, magazines, cash and mobile phones from the possession of the terrorists.

The spokesperson said the terrorists had planned to target important buildings in Lahore and other cities. He said 10 cases have been registered against the arrested terrorists.

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2025