Pakistan arrests 97 al-Qaeda and other militants; foils jailbreak plan

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan has arrested 97 al-Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militants, including three commanders, in the southern city of Karachi and foiled a planned attack to break U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl's killer out of jail, the army said on Friday.

The men are accused of involvement in major attacks on two Pakistani air bases, the Karachi airport, several regional intelligence headquarters and on police installations between 2009 and 2015, the military said.

The LeJ's Naeem Bokhari and Sabir Khan, as well as Farooq Bhatti, deputy chief of al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), were captured by Pakistani forces in recent raids, military spokesman Lieutenant General Asim Bajwa said.

"Our conclusion is that all of the terrorist groups are trying to cooperate with each other in order to carry out terrorist attacks," he told a news conference.

The LeJ and AQIS had been working "in collusion" with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, also known as the Pakistani Taliban, Bajwa added.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is an Islamist group whose sectarian ideology is closely aligned with Islamic State, as it wants to kill or expel Pakistan's minority Shi'ites and establish a Sunni theocracy.

Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent was formed by global al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri in September 2014, and is one of dozens of Islamist militant groups, some aligned against Pakistan and others against its neighbours, that operate in the country.

Pakistan has been under domestic and international pressure to crack down on all such groups, and launched a renewed operation against some of them in June 2014.

Bajwa declined to give details of the raids, including their timing.

Several of those arrested, including Bokhari, were in the advanced stages of planning a jailbreak attempt on the Hyderabad Central Jail, Bajwa said.

Khalid Omar Sheikh, who kidnapped and killed the Wall Street Journal's Daniel Pearl in 2002, is being held at that jail and was to be released during the raid, he said.

Six suicide bombers had been enlisted in the attack plan, in addition to 19 involved in facilitating it, Bajwa said. More than 350 kg (772 lb) of explosives had been recovered from a building believed to be a hideout, he said.

The attackers planned to raid the prison compound with two vans filled with explosives, and had a list of about 35 prisoners they planned to kill, Bajwa said, displaying pencil sketches of the prison allegedly made by the militants.

They had a separate list of about 100 prisoners, including Sheikh, whom they were supposed to release, he added.

Video images of the militants' hideout showed blue plastic barrels filled with explosives, washing machines that had been used to transport arms and ammunition, long lengths of detonating cord and dozens of ball bearings.

The footage also showed several rifles that Bajwa said had been stolen from police in earlier targeted attacks.

"This plan was 90 percent ready for execution," he added.

Pakistan arrests 97 al-Qaeda and other militants; foils jailbreak plan - SWI swissinfo.ch

ISPR briefing will be posted.

A job superbly done. Look at the exposed faces of those pigs. Fuckin filth.

they were going to release their colleagues and kill most likely anyone suspected to be shia. they did the same thing in Bannu jail break where they found time to actually behead people while the jail security and policemen ducked and ran away.

these guys must be put down otherwise the civilian courts will free them or they will escape through insider help

When Chief is going to sign their hell warrents ??

This curse needs to end ASAP & yes the best thing is Pakistan Armed Forces and ISI are doing spectacular job. But along with all these operations, they need to put their eyes on inner culprits. Their financier, backers, and supporters should be accounted too. They are far more dangerous for Pakistan than these dogs themselves.

What ever Gen Raheel do, Nawaz already made up his mind and no extension for Gen. Because, he is pushing hard Nawaz and Shahbaz to initiate all out war against terrorist in Punjab.

Good Job. We should treat them as enemy combatants and keep them in military prison for investigation and interrogation, and executed without trial if proven guilty. They should not be tried by incompetent civilian courts.

I am surprised that there are some terrorists who are still alive & these arrested rented bastards were trying to free them. Keeping these rented terrorists alive is a bad idea & there should be no mercy shown to rented terrorists.

after the Bannu DEBACLE - need nothing less than iron fist ruthless approach.

iPhone said:

A job superbly done. Look at the exposed faces of those pigs. Fuckin filth.

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wait till they wait in line while at the gallows then even further we'll see their expressions.....m'fckers

looks like terrorists are out of stock of new Recruit. Which is why they used rented criminals for this operation. I hope all get hanged. The one who were coming to save and the people who were inside the jail.

Irfan Baloch said:

they were going to release their colleagues and kill most likely anyone suspected to be shia. they did the same thing in Bannu jail break where they found time to actually behead people while the jail security and policemen ducked and ran away.

these guys must be put down otherwise the civilian courts will free them or they will escape through insider help

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need to adapt to their own brutal tactics.....they'll all meet their Maker one by one

Excellent work on the catch...... moreover, way more interesting news seems to be that they are equating LeJ with Al-Qaeda. Good to see that Pakistani establishment at last is learning who the real bad guys are. It took the armed forces and various political parties three decades to shed their bromance with LeJ/SSP et al. Let's see if they can now also bring other such 'Lashkars' into the category of terrorists......... perhaps we will have to wait another 30 years and 1,000,000 more deaths for us to learn a lesson? Hope not.