Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The military’s media wing on Saturday claimed that the Punjab Rangers conducted 200 search operations across the province under the recently launched military operation Radd-ul-Fasaad, killing four suspects besides taking 600 suspects into custody.

According to a media release issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Punjab Rangers conducted more than 200 search operations in various areas of Punjab, including Karor, Layyah and Rawalpindi.

During the operations, the paramilitary force reportedly searched suspected houses, seminaries and shops, read the ISPR statement. Through its statement, the ISPR claimed that several Afghan nationals were also arrested during the operation. A “few facilitators of Jamat-ul-Ahrar were also arrested”, it claimed.

The ISPR also claimed that the Rangers had recovered weapons as well as militancy-related material.

According to an earlier statement, the ISPR claimed that Radd-ul-Fasaad – which translates roughly to ‘elimination of discord’ – was aimed at indiscriminately eliminating the “residual/latent threat of terrorism”, consolidating the gains made in other military operations, and further ensuring the security of Pakistan’s borders.

Meanwhile, on a tip-off, the law enforcement agencies conducted search operations at bus stands and stops located in Islamabad and rounded up around 50 suspected persons, including four Afghans. The police, accompanied by other law enforcers, also conducted search operations at the Punjab University hostels and areas adjacent to Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore and arrested seven suspected persons. During the search operation, entry and exit points of the area were sealed, while nobody was allowed to enter or leave the area.

Meanwhile, security forces and police claimed to have foiled a major explosives smuggling bid under the garb of Afghan Transit Trade and arrested two truck drivers, besides recovering a huge cache of explosives from them during an operation in Sadiqabad area.

The suspects were identified as Sakhi Badshah and Rasool Nawaz, hailing from Wana town of South Waziristan Agency. They have been arrested over the charges of smuggling explosives.