NOWSHERA: The ‘operational commander’ of the banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, Qari Basit, and an unknown foreigner were arrested by personnel of intelligence agencies in Kheshgi town of Nowshera district on Wednesday.

Sources said the two were arrested in a joint raid conducted by security forces and police at a house in Kheshgi. They were taken to an unknown place.

The sources claimed that the two men had arrived in Nowshera on a special mission to attack Provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain.

District Police Officer Muhammad Hussain said a suspected man had been arrested but rejected the report that Qari Basit and his foreign accomplice had been captured.

The sources said that Qari Basit was wanted by police in several cases of suicide bombing and attacks on government installations in different areas of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.