ISLAMABAD, Jan 30: Swarms of paramilitary troops and city police combed the Margalla Hills on Monday after two suspects in custody spoke of militants hiding there to strike the city.

Security sources said the suspects' words were taken seriously as they were arrested in the widespread hunt for the miscreants who fired rocket on the Pakistan Military Academy in Abbottabad last Friday.

Senior police officers confirmed that the combing operation was launched overnight after the two suspects, picked up in Taxila on Saturday spoke about the presence of militant hideouts on the hills under interrogation.

“A new wave of terrorism is rising in the country,” said a police officer who evaded connecting the combing operation specifically to the two suspects.

Another officer confided that the level of security in the federal capital has been increased in view of terror threats. Their seriousness was evident from the pressing of paramilitary Rangers and Frontier Constabulary into the security operation with the police and setting up new checkposts on the Margalla range and in its foothills.

They combed both sides of the Margallas with the federal capital territory on its north-east side and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on the north-west.

From Tuesday the capital police would also deploy a surveillance helicopter with shooters on board.

Chief Commissioner Tariq Pirzada told Dawn that the deployment would be “part of the security arrangements being taken” but said the helicopter would be used only “occasionally”.

“We cannot disclose the schedule of the aerial surveillance for security reasons,” he added.

Police sources said that besides combing the Margalla Hills, security personnel were also going through the villages in the area, collecting data about the people living there and verifying their status.

Such search and combing operation was also observed in the suburban localities, particularly Sihala, Kural and Shahzad Town but Tarnol and Bharakahu also.

People who have moved into these localities from tribal areas, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and central and southern Punjab during the last six months are particularly in focus of the security searches.