KARACHI: The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), in coordination with intelligence agencies, conducted intelligence-based operations (IBOs) in two separate areas of the metropolis and arrested five suspected terrorists, including three linked to the banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and two affiliated with the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

In a press statement, a CTD spokesperson identified the three BLA suspects as Imran Khan alias Shaukat, Zaheer Ahmed and Mohammed Riaz.

According to the CTD, the suspects, acting under the direction of their ringleader Abdul Rehman, had conducted reconnaissance of sensitive installations.

One of the arrested suspects, Zaheer, was involved in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast in Sajidi Bazaar, Kashkor, Balochistan, in 2024, in which Frontier Corps (FC) personnel were injured.

The CTD said Zaheer got militancy training at a BLA training camp in 2024 and was awaiting the arrival of his accomplices to carry out attacks on sensitive installations in Karachi.

In the other IBO, two suspected TTP terrorists, identified as Hujatullah and Habibullah, were apprehended.

The CTD said that these suspects had received militancy training at a TTP training camp in Afghanistan in 2024. They had recently arrived in Karachi on the instructions of their ringleader, Hidayatullah, and had conducted reconnaissance of law enforcement agencies’ offices in the city.

The suspects were allegedly awaiting instructions from Afghanistan-based terrorists to carry out attacks against law enforcers, the CTD said, adding that their names had been mentioned in threat-alert reports.

Five .30-bore pistols and two mobile phones were recovered from their possession.

Published in Dawn, June 16th, 2026