Major ISKP terrorist plot in Quetta foiled, four terrorists killed

QUETTA: A big ISKP (DAESH) terrorist plot was foiled in Quetta, saving the city from a major disaster when Akram Zehri-led cell of the terrorist organisation was busted in Bolan.

Four terrorists, including Akram Zehri, a proclaimed offender with head money, were killed in an IBO conducted by the CTD Balochistan in Ab-e-Gum area of District Bolan. Arms and explosives were also recovered.

The CTD Balochistan had long been pursuing this particular cell of ISKP, planning attacks on strategic locations in Quetta. The CTD was tipped off about the location of the DAESH terrorists at a hideout in the mountains of Abe Gum, district Bolan. Acting on actionable intelligence, the CTD team raided the hideout and challenged the terrorists to surrender. According to the CTD spokesman, the terrorists instead attacked the LEA team with indiscriminate firing, which was retaliated.

Four terrorists were killed while three escaped in the mountainous area, the CTD statement claimed. The dead were identified as Akram Zehri, who is allegedly one of the proclaimed offenders described in the Interior Ministry’s Red Book. Zehri also carried Rs50 lac head money. The three others were identified as Ahmadullah, Sikandar and Shadi Khan. All of them worked for LeJ/DAESH.

The LEJ terrorists have since long been working with ISKP and other terrorist organisations like TTP, handled from camps in Afghanistan. As many as five kgs of explosives to prepare IEDs, remote controls and detonators were recovered with Alpha Fire System. “The Alpha Fire System is another lethal device of the terrorists: essentially a charge for IED which can detonate several IEDS, all at once with a remote click,” the police said. Besides, an SMG rifle, three pistols and two motorcycles were also recovered from their possession, the spokesman confirmed.

The CTD spokesman said the cell was planning to launch major attacks against sensitive installations in Quetta. Documents including maps confirmed the terrorist plans, he said and added the counter terrorism force also managed to lay hands on “more information about the other terrorists of the cell, their sleepers and facilitators.”

The CTD, according the spokesman, is conducting raids, besides investigation, against the other suspected members of the Zehri-led ISKP network. An FIR has been lodged at the Police Station CTD Balochistan.