Five al-Qaeda terrorists have been killed and 450 suspects arrested in Punjab province as the Pakistani military launched a fresh campaign against militants following the Easter Sunday massacre that killed 74 people.
The attack by Pakistani Taliban faction - Jamaatul Ahrar - killed 74 people, most of them women and children, on Sunday at a crowded public park in Lahore. The group claimed the attack saying it was a "message" to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that the "war has reached his doorstep". It also said that their target were Christians.
Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah today said security agencies and Punjab police have extended search operations from main districts to small towns and detained 450 suspects.
"In the four-day operation (since Sunday), law enforcement agencies had taken more than 9,000 people into custody but detained 450 of them for their alleged links with banned organisations," Sanaullah told reporters here. "We are also interrogating them for their role as facilitators."
He acknowledged that some people may have to face problems as the operation progresses, but quickly added that there was no other way to find the terrorists and their facilitators.
"Such people are living among us. We have to identify them and arrest them. War against terrorism is our struggle for survival and there is no other option but to win it," he said.
Law enforcement agencies yesterday killed five 'high-profile' terrorists in an encounter. Lahore police chief Amin Wains said they were members of al-Qaeda (Afzaal Group).
"The five al-Qaeda terrorists were involved in many terror attacks, including missile attack on Pakistan Military Academy, Kakul, attack on army officers in Peshawar, army camp in Gujrat, minority Ahamadi's worship place in Garhi Shahu Lahore, Police Training Centre, Shekhupura district of Punjab and cracker attacks at several juice corners and food outlets in Lahore," Wains said.
He said they had also kidnapped a relative of a senior army officer for Rs 10 million ransom, an American citizen for Rs 300 million ransom, and two other foreigners in Multan.
The terrorists have been identified as Qari Saqib, Junaid Zahoor, Khan Wahid, Nasir Iqbal and Nadeem Iqbal.
A Joint Invesigation Team formed by Punjab government has found clues suggesting Jamaat-ul-Ahrar was behind the attack.
"We got some solid evidence that Jmaat-ul-Ahrar is behind the suicide attack at Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park," Wains said.
The group has previously claimed responsibility for suicide attacks at two churches in Lahore in March 2015, and attempted to justify them by terming Pakistan a "land of war".
"The Christians, Jews, and Zorastrians living in Pakistan have neither converted to Islam nor are they paying Jizya. Under these circumstances, Christians, Hindus, etc, are not at peace, nor are their places of worship safe," it had said.
