Terrorists being flushed out from Punjab

Eight alleged radicals killed, sepoy martyred in action

LAHORE: Pakistan Rangers Punjab claimed to have killed eight alleged terrorists, arrested 27 and seized huge caches of weapons under Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad in five days. A Rangers sepoy Kamran was martyred and Deputy Superintendent Haroon injured in joint search and combing operations.

Colonel Amjad Iqbal stated this during a news briefing on the progress of Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad at Rangers Headquarters on Thursday.

Iqbal said in the joint operation at Manawala, Defence area of Lahore on Thursday, law enforcement agencies (LEAs) arrested six suspects and recovered 38 weapons, 67 magazines and 4,500 rounds.



A suspect during search operations was also recovered from Attock, he said and added that LEAs were investigating him and it was expected that information from him may lead to further arrests.

He said on April 12, a joint operation was conducted at Muza Pemra Soo, Par Lakhan and Par Bundi, district Hafizabad. Twelve suspects were rounded up and seven AK-47s, one G3, two 8mms and 16 other rifles and pistols were recovered.

In a separate operation on the same Wednesday night in Basti Kaleri, Taunsa district, Dera Ghazi Khan, three suspects belonging to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were killed. Four suicide jackets, one rocket launcher, six rockets, 10kg explosives, 20,000 rounds, and four charge boosters were recovered.



In the operation at Lahore motorway, two suspects were arrested near Sambarial, Kharian, Sheikhupura. On their information, six suspects were also arrested and one American M4, two repeaters, six 44-bore rifles, 22 pistols and 55,000 rounds were recovered. The ammunition would have been used in terror activities, Iqbal said.

In another joint action on April 9 in tribal areas of Dera Ghazi Khan, five suspects were killed, Kamran embraced martyrdom and Haroon was injured. The suspects belonged to Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and had also acted as facilitators of TTP. Their affiliation with the banned outfit was also ascertained by BLA sources. They carried head money of millions of rupees. LEAs also recovered huge quantity of weapons from their custody, Iqbal said.

The officer said Pakistan Rangers Punjab was busy in action in collaboration with other institutions against terrorists. He said that deployment of illegal private security guards and display of weapons was illegal under the National Action Plan (NAP). He warned of action against violation. He asked to deploy only those guards from security companies who were registered with government institutions. Wearing uniform of police, army, civil or other institutions was not allowed at any cost, Iqbal said.



As far as activities by Lahore police for implementation of NAP and Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad were concerned, official data of Lahore police showed that a total of 3,096 combing and search operations were conducted in collaboration with the Lahore police from February 22 to April 12.

A total of 212,159 persons were questioned, 1,546 detained and 210,613 released.

Out of 3,096 search and combing operations, 2,805 were solely conducted by the Lahore police. In these operations 156,188 persons were questioned, 1,083 detained and 155,105 released.



Approximately 218 joint operations were conducted with the help of intelligence agencies led by the Lahore police, in which, 50,170 persons were questioned, 378 detained and 49,792 released. Seventy-three joint operations in collaboration with police and intelligence agencies were led by the Rangers. In these operations, 5,801 persons were questioned, 85 detained and 5,716 released.

DIG operations said Lahore police were conducting search operations on a daily basis. They were collaborating with all LEAs in their full capacity to counter the menace of terrorism. He said that a large number of police officers had laid down their lives in the line of duty. Their morale was high and they would keep on fighting until terrorists- the enemies of humanity - were defeated, Ashraf added.