Pakistan’s counter-terrorism police raided hideouts of an outlawed Shia militant group in the eastern Punjab province and arrested seven suspected terrorists who were allegedly planning to attack leaders of rival Sunni Muslims’ groups.
The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab Police in a statement on Thursday said the suspects from the proscribed organisation SMP (Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistan) were arrested in separate raids over the last 24 hours from cities of Sargodha, Khusab and Sahiwal.
It said the network was planning to kill leadership of the opposite sect. Main aim of the terrorists was to commit terrorism in order to spread violent sectarianism in the country and to create chaos, it said.
On Wednesday, a CTD team in Sargodha, some 200 kms from Lahore, and intelligence agency officers got information that two terrorists were on their way to kill the leadership of the opposite sect.
The CTD team tried to stop them at Luqman Canal on Kot Momin Road in Sargodha district. “The terrorists opened fire on the security forces who retaliated and arrested the terrorists,” the CTD said.
The arrested terrorists were identified as Musharraf Abbas and Ameerbaaz.
Explosives, IED (Improvised Explosive Device), a rifle, a pistol and ammunition were recovered from them.
During initial interrogation, they gave information about the members of their network. On their disclosures, raids were conducted at various places and five more terrorists were arrested. They are identified as Niaz Abbas, Adeel Abbas Aslam Hussain, Baharat Khan and Muhammad Ali.
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