KP, Fata receiving 19 terror attack threats daily: security officials

PESHAWAR: On an average 19 threats of terrorist attacks are received daily in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Areas and alerts are issued to cope with the situation, security officials said.
Despite successes achieved by the military in the war against terrorism, particularly since undertaking the Zarb-e-Azb operation in North Waziristan and the Khyber-1 and Khyber-2 action in Khyber Agency in 2014, the threat level has remained high. Improved intelligence and the alertness of the law-enforcement agencies have foiled many acts of terrorism. The security officials said every night the personnel of all the intelligence agencies hold a meeting in Peshawar to discuss the threats, share information and assign duties to tackle the challenge.
They claimed a suspect was seized 15-20 minutes before a plan to blow up a politician in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa could materialise.
They recalled that Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak faced a terrorist threat when he gave a statement seeking the removal of Afghan refugees from the province in the wake of December 16, 2014 attack on the Army Public School Peshawar.
According to the security officials, even now improvised explosives devices (IEDs) buried in the earth are being found and defused in North Waziristan, Tirah in Khyber Agency and other conflict areas. They said explosives in such huge quantities were seized in the Mir Ali and Miranshah areas in North Waziristan adding that these could have been used to make five IEDs daily for 17 years.
There has been a significant increase in intelligence-based operations by the military. The security officials said 725 intelligence-based operations were carried out in just 15 days from December 16-31 last year when the punitive campaign against the suspected militants was stepped up in the aftermath of the terrorist assault on the Army Public School. In 2015, the intelligence-based operations have already reached 1,098. A total of 3,305 suspects were apprehended and 20 were killed. “In case innocent people are harmed in these actions, we admit our mistake, seek forgiveness and release those under arrest,” an official said.
The surrender of militants in significant numbers has also been achieved for the first time. The security officials said more than 600 militants laid down their arms in Bara in Khyber Agency and were now being imparted skills at training centres to make them useful citizens. Some militants also surrendered in Orakzai Agency. “They are made to surrender under certain conditions. Commanders and those belonging to terrorist groups are excluded from the list. Every militant has to accept the Constitution of Pakistan while surrendering,” one of the security officials explained. He added that more militants are going to surrender in future and a proper place to keep them has already been prepared.