Five al-Qaeda operatives arrested from Gujranwala

GUJRANWALA: Five al-Qaeda operatives were arrested in a raid here on night between Thursday and Friday, an official with the country’s counterterrorism department said Friday, foreign media reported.

According to the official, Muhammad Imran, the raid in Punjab province was carried out in collaboration with the country’s top intelligence agency, the Inter Services Intelligence.

The suspects arrested belong to the al-Qaeda branch active in the region and known as al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent, he said, adding that the men ran a media cell for the terror network and coordinated its militant operations in the region. One of the arrested men was an expert in forged documents, while another specialised in digital media and publications, the official also said.

He said the suspects, who were initially based in Karachi but recently moved to Gujranwala, were also involved in raising funds for al-Qaeda.

The raid in Gujranwala city hit an important media cell and financing network for the jihadists, Punjab’s counter-terrorism department said. Laptops with encrypted data, cell phones, a printing press, explosives, five Kalashnikov rifles, ammunition and cash were found.

“They were planning attack on law enforcement officials in Gujranwala,” the police statement added, without giving more details on the plot.