Da’ish Peshawar network dismantled, 24 arrested

Senior security official says they were involved in several coordinated attacks on government and security personnel

PESHAWAR: At least 24 members of the Islamic State (IS), who were involved in several coordinated attacks on government and security officials, were arrested and their networks in Peshawar were also dismantled, a senior security official said on Friday.

"Da’ish [Arabic acronym of IS] has tried to make several attempts in establishing its foothold but security and intelligence officials have worked hard to dismantle the current network in Peshawar" the official said.

He went on to say that Da’ish Peshawar chapter was involved a number of last year’s terror attacks including killing of a Fata secretariat employee in June, target killing of three soldiers in September and targeted a vehicle of Frontier Corps.



It’s pertinent to mention here, this was the first time a security official acknowledged the presence of the proscribed organisation in Khyber-Paktunkhwa and Fata.

On March 21, five terrorists, including an IS commander, were killed in an intelligence based operation (IBO) in Orakzai Agency, the official said. “They had planned to target Nauroz festivals in two different areas held by the Shia community.”

He went on to say, “There is no safe haven of Da’ish in Pakistan, their bases are in Afghanistan.”

Those in Orakzai had just crossed the border two days ago and were pin pointed by the local people, he added.