PESHAWAR: The city police on Tuesday claimed to have arrested eight terrorists involved in several incidents of sabotage in the provincial capital.

Capital city police officer Mohammad Ali Gandapur told reporters at the Malik Saad Shaheed police lines that four of the terrorists were arrested while they were trying to sneak into the provincial capital, and the action was taken in coordination with an intelligence agency.

Mr Gandapur said the terrorists were trying to sneak into the provincial capital on a motorcycle from Khyber district near Hayatabad when they were intercepted by the police. He said that terrorists opened fire on police to escape from the scene, however, they were arrested after a shootout.

He said one of the arrested terrorists belonged to Afghanistan, while the three were residents of Khyber district.

Mr Gandapur identified the terrorists as Liaqat, Khan Akbar, Akif and Wajid. He said they were involved in several incidents of terror in the provincial capital, including a grenade attack on a police checkpost at Karakhno crossing and similar attacks on traders’ homes and brick kilns in Banamari and Mattani to extort money.

He said on their information four other accused identified as Nandar Ali, Hussain Shah, Mohammad Zaman and Mirajuddin were also arrested.

Separately, a police guard deputed at the central jail accidently fired a RPG round on Tuesday while cleaning the weapon. However, there were no casualties.

Published in Dawn, June 10th, 2020