Banned terror outfits behind recent attacks in Pak Punjab: Intelligence report

Lahore, July 12(ANI): A Pakistan intelligence report has revealed that three banned organizations - Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ), Harkatul Jihadul Islami (HJI) and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) - were involved in the recent terrorist attacks across the Punjab province.

According to the reports, the three organisations had direct involvement in a majority of the 49 terrorist incidents that occurred across Punjab in the last 18 months.

It also claims that Al-Qaeda operations chief in Pakistan, Ilyas Kashmiri, masterminded these attacks, The Daily Times reports.

During various probes into the terrorism incidents, it was discovered that three groups worked in tandem to carry out the attacks

The first group consists of LJ activist, released from Afghan and Pakistani prisons, who got trained and fought in Afghanistan.

After identifying targets and completing the surveillance of the specific installations, the LJ activists forwarded the reports to Kashmiri, who then contacted the TTP for the attacks.

The second group in the network provides suicide bombers and attackers, while the third provides ammunitions, explosives and suicide jackets.

The reports also said that in the 49 incidents of terrorism, 687 people were killed, including 69 police officials, while at least 1,834 people, including 268 cops were injured.

Twenty-one of the 49 incidents were traced by law enforcement agencies (LEAs), 37 terrorists were arrested, 24 of the attackers were killed in encounters with police and 27 suicide bombers blew themselves up during these attacks. (ANI)