Police foil terror bid in Abbottabad, arrest three militants

Suicide jackets, explosive devices and RPG 7s recovered from their possession.

ABBOTTABAD: Abbottabad police claimed on Tuesday to have arrested three alleged militants who were planning on carrying out an attack in the city.

Deputy IGP Hazara Akhtar Hayat Gandapur said in a news conference that the militants arrested were activists of the Amaraat Islami outfit and were in possession of ammunition, explosive devices, suicide jackets and rocket launchers.

He said that they were also involved in a bank heist worth Rs9.7 million in Mansehra which had taken place on August 2 this year.

Relating an account of how the militants were caught, the DIG said that the police had followed two people after a shootout in Mangal.

The men had fled but they left behind a bag which the police took in its custody. A search of the bag unveiled a telescope, a rocket launcher and mobile phone.

Further investigations of the mobile phone and the RPG-7 led the police and the intelligence agencies to a man called Farooq Ali, who is the son of Haji Fareed and a resident of Dhamtor.

Upon being detained the accused told the police and the agencies that he was riding the motorbike with Qari Saqib, a resident of the same village. When police had tried to intercept them in Mangal, they had fled.

The DIG said that the two accused, were then pursued by the police and upon being arrested confessed that they were in possession of the explosive devices and that material was to be used in attacks on the house of one of their accomplices called Ashraf, a resident of Mangal.

Upon receipt of that information, the police arrested Ashraf and also recovered two mortal shells, three RPG-7s, seven rocket launchers, three suicide jackets, four detonators, one roll of detonator cord, potash powder, 10-meter safety fuse, magazines of MMG rifle, one SMG and 88 rounds of ammunition. Two suicide jackets, four time watches and two number plates were recovered as well.

DIG claimed that the arrested militants had planned to hit military, police and civilian targets in Abbottabad.

A criminal case has been registered against the militants in the Mirpur police station, he said.