A special team of the Peshawar Police on Friday thwarted multiple coordinated terrorist attacks on Muharram processions by recovering suicide jackets, detonators and explosives from a house in the Shamshatoo Camp for the Afghan refugees located in the jurisdiction of the Urmar Police Station. The cops recovered map of the routes of Ashura processions and four Imambargahs of the city that were the probable targets of the attack.“Acting on a tip-off, we raided a house in Shamshatoo and recovered sacks in one of its rooms. During search, six suicide jackets weighing 18 kilograms, electric detonators, safety fuses, batteries and prima cords were recovered,” Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Operations Mian Saeed Ahmad told media. He said the bomb disposal unit was called in to defuse the explosives. A map and Jihadi literature was also recovered from the house. “The map shows that the terrorists had planned carrying out attacks on Imambargahs and Ashura processions during Muharram,” Mian Saeed said. The raids in different parts of the country show that intelligence-gathering has improved. However, it would be premature to assume that all bases have been covered: sectarian militants may currently be down, but they are far from being out of commission.The infrastructure that sustains and supports hate groups is arguably intact, even though many of the leaders of such outfits may be in custody or keeping a low profile. Moreover, with increasing talk of the presence of the self-proclaimed Islamic State — a virulently sectarian outfit — in Pakistan, a new threat has been added to the already existing ones. Potential recruits to the cause in this country may be willing to carry out terrorist atrocities to ‘impress’ the IS core in the Middle East.Hence, the state needs to sustain and expand its intelligence-led efforts to neutralise the threat of militant attacks. Muharram security — with large crowds gathering for processions and majalis in numerous locations across the country — is a major challenge every year.
pk.shafaqna.com
