KARACHI: The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab announced on Monday that it has arrested 89 terrorists during 940 intelligence-based operations (IBOs) carried out across the province in the last three months. The department has ramped up operations due to an uptick in terror attacks in Pakistan over the past year.
The operations have led to the arrest of terrorists from various cities, including Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, and Bahawalpur. According to the CTD, the arrested terrorists have affiliations with various extremist groups, including the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Hizb-ut-Tahrir, and Jeay Sindh.
In addition to the arrests, the CTD seized significant amounts of explosives, including 20.2 kilograms of explosive material, 85 detonators, and over 700 pamphlets linked to banned organizations. The department has registered 87 criminal cases against the arrested suspects, and investigations are ongoing.
The CTD also reported that in the past week, local police and security agencies carried out 13,521 combing operations across Punjab. These operations resulted in the arrest of 1,131 suspicious individuals, the registration of 1,061 FIRs, and the recovery of various items.
The department emphasized that the arrested individuals had been planning attacks on important buildings across several cities. The CTD remains committed to ensuring the safety of the public and bringing terrorists and anti-state elements to justice.
In a separate security operation earlier this week, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa CTD neutralized three terrorists, including an Afghan national, during an IBO in Khyber district. Two of the militants killed in the operation were involved in a suicide bombing in Peshawar, which killed two police officers.
