CTD foils major attack on Kohat police

PESHAWAR: The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) with the support of Intelligence Bureau has busted a network that was planning major attacks on police lines and other police establishments in Kohat.

“Two members of the ring were serving policemen, including one posted in the CTD,” a senior official said during a briefing. “The ring was planning major attacks on police lines in Kohat and senior policemen. They wanted to bring in suicide bombers like the attack in the Peshawar Police Headquarters in January 2023 in which 86 policemen were martyred and over 200 were wounded,” said Additional Inspector General of CTD Shaukat Abbas.

He said the CTD and IB busted the gang before they could target police lines and police officers. The official said the ring was busted while investigating the target killing of two policemen near Tanda Dam.

“One of the accused held in the case informed about the involvement of two cops Faridoon and his brother Siraj. One is serving in the CTD and another in the district police,” said the Add IG,adding both the policemen had been arrested while raids were being conducted to arrest their accomplices.

The senior official informed that the two policemen were also in contact with some other cops who were also questioned. Shaukat Abbas said the ring brought IED and other explosives from Bannu and was also behind the attack on the car of SP in which he survived.

A policeman, Muhammad Wali was held over a year ago for involvement in the attack on Peshawar Police Lines in January 2023. That was the major attack on police in the country. The CTD chief said the force had foiled a number of major attacks by busting the networks of Islamic State KP as well as groups of banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan in different areas of KP.

A number of cases have been worked out and the courts are hearing these cases. In a few cases, some of the accused were granted bail for lacking evidence. The CTD officials said the investigation process had been improved especially in the high profile cases and the conviction rate had increased.

However, stricter laws and its implementation by the courts are needed to deal with the prime accused in high profile cases, especially in terrorist attacks and plans. According to the CTD, they have also started working on the social media accounts of the terrorist groups and one case was lodged the other day.

Besides, all the social media platforms have been approached to discourage such accounts and contents.