PAKISTAN ARRESTS 7 SHIITE MILITANTS, FOILS POSSIBLE ATTACKS

Thu 07 January 2021:

Seven suspected terrorists have been arrested from the Sargodha district of eastern Punjab province, who allegedly wanted to attack leaders of rival Sunni Muslims’ groups, a spokesman said Thursday.

Local media quoted sources from the Punjab province police department as saying that the Pakistan’s counter-terrorism police and the country’s intelligence agency raided hideouts of an outlawed Shia militant group.

The suspects from the outlawed Sipah-e-Mohammad group were arrested in three separate raids over the previous 24 hours from cities of Sargodha, Khusab and Sahiwal, Punjab Counter-Terrorism Department said.

It said officers seized bomb-making material and guns that were to be used in sectarian attacks by the arrested men. The suspects were being directed by militant leader Mehmood Iqbal, who was hiding in a neighboring country, officials said. Authorities did not name the country but officials have previously accused Iran for backing Shia militants.

7 terrorists of a proscribed militant Org, Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistan being operated from a neighbouring country, have been arrested in a joint CTD+ISI operation today in central Punjab. “Main aim of the terrorists was to commit terrorism in order to spread violent sectarianism”. pic.twitter.com/A5FrFGfGfO

— Ihsan Tipu Mehsud (@IhsanTipu) January 7, 2021

Police told media that the suspects were planning the assassination of some important figures as well as triggering sectarian conflict in the country.

Angered over Sunday’s killing of coal miners, hundreds of minority Shia from the Hazara community have since been rallying in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province.

The arrest is made at the time when security agencies have declared a high alert in all major cities of the country after intelligence agencies issued threat alert of possible terrorist attacks at government institutions and officials.