According to a CTD spokesperson, the arrested militant identified as Salman alias Abu Huraira is linked to the proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) faction known as the Mullah Mukhlis group.

The officials said Salman was a key member of a TTP sleeper cell in Karachi and had been involved in planning major attacks in the city.

During the operation, security forces recovered a suicide vest, maps and photographs of sensitive installations from his possession, the spokesperson added.

The CTD said the suspect had previously been deployed to Karachi along with other militants to carry out targeted killings, followed by a large-scale suicide attack.

Some of his accomplices were still expected to enter the city.

The officials further said that one of Salman’s associates was killed in a 2025 suicide attack on the Frontier Corps in Quetta, while another died in a suicide bombing at the Dera Ismail Khan Police Training Centre last year.

The spokesperson said Salman had received suicide attack training in Afghanistan and had earlier been involved in an attack in Karachi’s SITE area in which foreign nationals were injured.

Security officials added that his close associate, identified as Zafran, was previously killed in an encounter with the CTD, with a bounty of Rs10 million reportedly placed on him.

Another fugitive militant, Idris alias Asadullah, is still at large, officials said.

The CTD has launched further raids and formed joint teams to arrest remaining members of the network and their facilitators, the spokesperson added.