ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) said on Saturday it had arrested nine suspected militants, including four belonging to the Daesh, after a series of raids in Punjab province.
The CTD said it had conducted 22 intelligence-based operations in different districts of Punjab, during which officers seized firearms, rounds of ammunition, and improvised explosive devices.
“During these IBOs, 09 suspects belonging to different defunct organizations were arrested,” the CTD said in a statement, listing the Daesh, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and Lashkar-e-Jhanghvi (LeJ) militant groups.
Pakistan has seen renewed militant attacks in recent months after several years of relative quiet.
The attacks have mostly been carried out by the TTP, the Pakistani Taliban, and security officials have said Daesh had little presence in the country, but in May the group claimed responsibility for a deadly mosque bombing in northwestern Pakistan.
The suicide attack in Peshawar killed 63 people and injured nearly 200.
The explosion occurred at the Shiite mosque in the congested Qissa Khawani bazaar as worshipers were offering Friday prayers.
