by Jamil Bhatti
ISLAMABAD, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- At least four terrorists were killed and 10 others arrested by the security forces in ongoing combing operations in different areas of Pakistan in the wee hours of the Friday morning, officials said.
According to a statement from the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), Pakistan army's mouthpiece, at least six terrorists including two important militant commanders were arrested and a cache of arms and ammunition were recovered during a combing operation in Rawalpindi district.
"Combing operations are underway across the country to bust terrorist sleeper cells and eliminate hiding terrorists," said the ISPR.
On Friday morning, security forces and intelligence agencies conducted another operation after an intelligence tip-off and arrested four would-be suicide bombers along with five explosives laden jackets in Khyber Agency, Pakistan's northwest tribal region bordering Afghanistan.
"Security forces also arrested two employees of the local government in the area, who facilitated the suicide bombers to cross the border into Pakistan from Afghanistan," assistant local administrator of the area told media.
In another operation, security forces raided a hideout in Kahan area of Kohlu district of the country's southwest province of Balochistan and killed four terrorists presented in exchange of fire on Friday morning.
Spokesman of the Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force, told media that the killed terrorists of a banned outfit were involved in target killings, attacks on security forces, destroying public properties and other terrorism related activities.
Earlier on Thursday, at least four militants were killed in a shootout with paramilitary troops in the country's southern port city of Karachi. The killed terrorists were planning to hit the Independence Day celebrations on Aug. 14 in the city.
The ongoing combing operations against terrorists and their facilitators across Pakistan are part of Pakistani government's efforts that it started after the Monday's deadly suicide attack in a public hospital in southwest provincial capital of Quetta, which killed at least 72 people and left over 100 others injured.
The incident took place when a suicide bomber attacked a crowd of lawyers who gathered to protest against the killing of their local association's president. The president was shot dead by unknown gunmen in a separate attack half an hour before the bomber hit the gathering of the lawyers.
Security analysts believe that the terrorists' attack at the civilians is a proof of their frustration because many of them have either been killed or expelled from their strong bases in the country's northwest tribal regions as the result of extensive military operations.
On Wednesday, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif delivered a policy statement on the Quetta terrorist attack in the National Assembly, the lower house of the parliament, and called for national unity to defeat the remaining terrorists who are targeting innocent people in sheer frustration.
"I want to announce that the nation is united in the war against terrorism and this war will be taken to its logical conclusion at all costs," the PM said.
Following the deadly attack, Pakistan's army chief General Raheel Sharif chaired a Corps Commander Conference at the Army's General Headquarters in Rawalpindi city on Tuesday and directed the commanders and intelligence outfits to further intensify the combing and targeted operations with full vigor to eliminate terrorists and sleeper cells.
General Raheel said the coward attack at civilians in the hospital is an attempt to undermine the successes of operation Zarb-e-Azb.
Pakistan claims to have achieved vital successes against the terrorism two years after the launch of military operation Zarb-e-Azab (Sharp Strike) in June 2014 in its northwestern tribal area of North Waziristan bordering Afghanistan, which was once considered as the safe haven for the Pakistani Taliban and foreign militants.
The Pakistan military said it had killed over 4,000 militants and arrested over 1,000 others in addition to destroying the strong holds of so far. However, analysts and local watchers say that the security agencies will have to go after the runaway terrorists and their facilitators hiding in urban and rural areas of the country.
Pakistani lawmakers are calling for better coordination among all security agencies and the unity of political forces to defeat the terrorists.
Ghalib Khan, a member of the lower house, said "the government has done a lot to deal with the terrorism and violent extremism. Now, all political parties and segments of the society should set aside their differences and forge unity to counter the remaining threat."
Although the militant groups have been kicked out of their specific safe havens and the security situation across the country has substantially improved, the recent attack in the hospital showed that the militants still have networks to plan and execute attacks in public places.
Hashmat Ali Habib, a senior lawyer of Supreme Court of Pakistan, told Xinhua on Friday that we should go after the terrorists hiding in their sleeping cells in urban areas, but at the same time we would have to make our judiciary strong enough to penalize arrested terrorists quickly without favor and fear.
