Suicide bomber?: Suspected terrorist nabbed, security beefed up

ISLAMABAD:

Security agencies on Tuesday nabbed a man suspected of being a suicide bomber, possibly out to execute a mission, police said. The suspect was picked up by security officials from the Sabzi Mandi area in Raja Bazaar in Rawalpindi, according to the police. He was shifted to an undisclosed location for questioning.

The suspect was nabbed following intelligence reports, suggesting he could have been dispatched on a suicide mission, police sources said.

He closely resembles a person being trained as a suicide bomber in a video — intercepted by intelligence sources — prepared by a militant group, police sources said. However, the identity of both the group and the suspect was not made available to the police.

The local police was also not certain if the raiding party recovered any weapons or explosives from the suspect’s possession.

Following the arrest, security in the federal capital was put on high alert. Fresh police checkpoints were established at different entry and exit points of the city besides increased patrolling in the Red Zone, which houses important government and foreign installations.

A police spokesperson said the police had already beefed up security for Ramazan, which starts on this weekend. He added that the city police would conduct snap checking in different areas as well.

People failing to prove their identities and their residence in Islamabad will be held for questioning, while vehicles without proper registration documents will be impounded, the spokesperson added.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 18^th, 2012.