Despite stringent security measures put in place, militants managed to sneak into provincial capital Peshawar on Thursday, killing two policemen in the city’s Badhabher area, just as the federal and provincial governments ran amok to find a way to deal with the spiralling violence.
Peshawar and the rest of the country has been put on high alert due to Muharram processions and following tragic attacks on two imam bargahs in Karachi and Rawalpindi on Wednesday. In Thursday’s attacks, officials said militants riding a car opened indiscriminate fire on police personnel manning a checkpost in Speen Qabar Badhabher, in the outskirts of Peshawar at noon. As a result, constables Rahman Wali and Shamsur Rahman were killed on the spot.
As security during Muharram becomes a continuously widening problem for the federal as well as provincial governments, authorities on Thursday ran from pillar to post to mitigate terror risks in the remaining days of Muharram mourning, with the Punjab government even issuing shoot-on-sight orders for terrorists. The Crime Investigation Agency of the Punjab Police on Thursday announced they had arrested two would-be suicide bombers from Anarkali Bazaar in Lahore after tracing a suspicious telephone call from Miranshah. Police said the two men had four suicide vests on them and each had about eight kilogrammes of explosives attached to it. Officials added the two terrorists planned to join a procession on the 8th of Muharram to carry out the bombing, adding that they were between 20 and 22 years of age. The Punjab government also announced a complete ban on pillion riding for the 9th and 10th of Muharram across the province.
Outlining security measures during Ashura, Punjab DIG Operations said terrorists could strike Lahore during the coming days of mourning, adding that they could opt for indiscriminate firing, bomb blasts or suicide attacks. He said participants of the main procession would be checked at four separate points, adding that renewed instructions were issued following Wednesday’s blasts in Karachi and Rawalpindi. The DIG said all routes of the processions would be monitored through security cameras. His orders came as the security apparatus across the country salvaged some pride by claiming to have defused several bombs and IEDs at various places. A bid of terror was thwarted on Thursday when the Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) defused a remote-controlled bomb near an imam bargah in Karachi’s Orangi Town. Police said the explosives weighed five kilogrammes. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Peshawar Police was informed about two high-intensity bombs having been planted under the recently-constructed Arbab Sikandar Khan bridge on GT Road. Police parties rushed to the area and cordoned off the site, after which experts of the Bomb Disposal Squad managed to defuse the bombs.
The Peshawar Police had also recovered a huge quantity of explosives from a pick-up truck late on Wednesday. Security forces in Khyber Agency also foiled attempts of blowing up trucks or containers loaded with supplies for NATO troops by defusing high-intensity improvised explosive devices (IED’s) in Jamrud tehsil. In Balochistan, the Frontier Corps claimed it had captured a truck loaded with a huge quantity of locally made bombs and other explosive material.
