The Army and Rangers will conduct a full-blown operation across Punjab to target militants, their facilitators and their hideouts, military sources told media on Monday.
Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif chaired a high-level security meeting at General Headquarters (GHQ) on Monday to review the progress of the operation in Punjab to nab terrorists in the aftermath of Lahore park blast, the army spokesperson said.
According to DG ISPR Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa, intelligence agencies, Army and Rangers carried out five joint operations in Lahore, Faisalabad and Multan since last night during which several suspected terrorists and their facilitators have been arrested.
#COAS chaired a high lvl security mtng at GHQ today to review progress of op in Punjab to nab terrorists in the aftermath of Lahore Blast-1
— Gen Asim Bajwa (@AsimBajwaISPR) March 28, 2016
A Huge cache of arms and ammunition were also recovered during the raids, he added.
Number of suspect terrorists and facilitators arrested and huge cache of arms and ammunition recovered-3
— Gen Asim Bajwa (@AsimBajwaISPR) March 28, 2016
Asim Bajwa said anti-terrorism operations would continue with more leads provided by the arrested suspects.
Int agencies with Army& Rangers carried out 5 ops in Lhr,Fsd&Multan since last night. Ops continue with more leads coming in-2
— Gen Asim Bajwa (@AsimBajwaISPR) March 28, 2016
Earlier, according to Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Shareef, on Sunday stated that murderers of innocent children will be brought to justice. The Army Chief stated that terrorists and their facilitators should be arrested as soon as possible. He gave these orders while chairing an important meeting in Rawalpindi lasting more than 6 hours.
The statements made by General Shareef came after a suicide bomb blast in Lahore’s Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park left 65 dead and more than 300 wounded, the causalities primarily being children.
The Army Chief was brought up to date with the initial details of the attack during the meeting.
The meeting is being attended by Director-General (DG) Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and DG Military Intelligence (MI). The concerned Commander of the area is also in the meeting.
The Army Chief further stated that they will not allow barbaric terrorists to play with the nation’s lives and freedom.