9 terrorists from various banned organizations under arrest in Pakistan

Pakistan: Authorities have said that Pakistan's security agencies in Punjab province on Tuesday have arrested nine terror suspects belonging to various banned organizations.

The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab Police issued a statement on Tuesday which said that extensive intelligence-based operations were conducted last week across Punjab in order to avert untoward incident.

''During these operations, nine suspected terrorists belonging to different banned organizations have been arrested,'' it said.

CTD stated that four terrorists were from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) identified as Sadam Hussain, Abid Ullah Khan, Muhammad Manzoor, and Muhammad Arshad.

The TTP, also known as the Pakistan Taliban, was formed in 2007 as an umbrella group of several militant groups. The main agenda of the organisation is to impose a strict brand of Islam throughout Pakistan.

This group is believed to be affiliated with al-Qaeda, and has been involved in several deadly assaults across the country including an attack on army headquarters in 2009, assaults on military bases, and the 2008 bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad.

Two members of the banned sectarian outfit Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistan, Muhammad Riaz and Syed Taqiul Hasnain, have also been arrested.

Jameelur Rehman who is an active member of Al-Qaedahave have been placed under arrest.

The remaining two who were taken into custody were Khalid Mehmood, an operative of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and Naveed Akhtar who worked for a foreign intelligence agency, the CTD said.

Five kilograms of explosives, 40 detonators, five hand grenades, a pistol, six bullets, 154 prohibited literatures and a Potohar jeep were recovered from them. According to the report, separate FIRs have been registered against them and they have been shifted to unknown locations for further investigation.

The CTD also said that the terrorists had planned to attack important buildings, law enforcement agencies and people of different religions to promote sectarianism in the country.

Source- PTI