Pakistan's law enforcement agencies foiled a major terror plot to target key installations in the Punjab province and arrested 13 terrorists, mostly belonging to the banned Islamic State (ISIS) and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), police said on Saturday.
According to the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab police, it conducted 83 intelligence-based operations in different districts of the province to effectively deal with any untoward incident of terrorism. Weapons, explosives and other prohibited materials were captured from the possession of the suspected terrorists.
The CTD said the arrested terrorists belong to ISIS (Daesh), TTP, Tehreek Jafariya Pakistan and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militant groups.
The arrests were carried out during intelligence-based operations in Rawalpindi, Attock, Bahawal Nagar, Lahore, Jehlum, Sheikhupura and Bahawalpur districts of Punjab, the counter-terrorism police said.
Police recovered nearly 5 kgs of explosives, one IED bomb, 29 detonators, 49 feet protective fuse wire, prima cards, one pistol, one SMG rifle with 80 bullets and banned literature from the possession of the terrorists.
The CTD said the terrorists had planned sabotage across the province and wanted to target important installations, which was, however, foiled by the law enforcement agency.
Police have registered eight cases against the arrested terrorists and shifted them to an undisclosed location for interrogation.
Last month, the CTD arrested around 30 terrorists from banned organisations, mostly ISIS and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), during operations in different areas of Punjab.