The Punjab Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) says it has arrested two terrorists involved in Lahore’s Anarkali blast on January 20 that killed two people and injured over 20 others.
“Sanaullah and Abdul Razzaq were arrested while they reached Lahore from Balochistan via a truck,” the Punjab police said in a tweet.
It added that the terrorists were planning two blasts in Lahore within a day and the CTD officials had seized two improvised explosive device (IED) detonators, primacord, remote control and batteries from their possession.
They had a plan to target law-enforcement agencies and a train’s bogie at the Lahore railway station.
The CTD said that those arrested were involved in multiple attacks, including attacks on Lahore’s vegetable market in 2012, Islamabad’s fruit market in 2014 and Multan’s Vehari Chowk in 2015.
The CTD with the assistance of Punjab Safe City Authority, intelligence and other technical resources have broken the terrorists’ network, read the tweet.
Enemies in the neighbouring country had planned the Anarkali blast, it added.
The blast had been claimed by a newly-formed separatist group, Baloch Nationalist Army, based in southwestern Balochistan province.
Recently, a surge has been witnessed in terrorist attacks in cities across Pakistan.
In April, the banned Balochistan Liberation Army claimed responsibility for a suicide attack at the University of Karachi’s Confucius Institute that killed three Chinese nationals. A woman identified as Shari Baloch exploded herself to kill the international instructors.
In efforts to expedite crackdown against terrorists, the Turbat CTD arrested an alleged woman suicide bomber a day ago who they say is associated with the Majeed Brigade wing of the Baloch Liberation Army.
The female suicide bomber was being prepared to target Chinese officials on the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) route or a caravan of security forces. She was being trained on the same lines as the woman identified as Shari, said law enforcement.