Three Arrested in Pakistan over Suspected Terror Attack

Local Editor

Three "ISIL" fanatics had been arrested in Pakistan over fears they were planning a terror attack no British soil on the 10th anniversary of the July 7 bombings.

Maps of London and "ISIL" propaganda were found on their computers during a police raid on a shop in Peshawar, north-west Pakistan. Documents threatening Pakistan's army were also seized but no weapons were discovered.

Pakistani news websites had named them as Asmatullah and Abdur Rehman - two Afghan nationals - as well as Mohammad Ibrahim.

Further, security checks on international flights out of Pakistan had been tightened to prevent terrorists wreaking havoc in the UK next week, ten years after a series of explosions killed 52 in London.

A spokesman for Pakistan's interior ministry said checks had been intensified, adding: "The aim is to secure airports."

A senior officer of Peshawar police stated: "It was a joint operation by military intelligence and local police over a tip-off that certain elements are involved in anti-state activities."

Mohammad Saeed added: "When we raided the Urmur area of Peshawar, three persons were arrested along with "ISIS" pamphlets..."

The suspects were interrogated for a few days before the police charged them with conspiracy against state and hate speech and literature before sending them to prison.

In the meantime, the terror group poses a "huge and deadly threat" to the UK, former Scotland Yard terror Chief Peter Clarke indicated.

Clarke added: "At the moment we are arresting one person for terror-related crimes every day. That's the highest rate at any point in 15 years, apart from the immediate aftermath of 9/11 and 7/7. There are 120 people awaiting trial as we speak."

But he added that "massive plots to commit terrorist acts have been thwarted" every year since the July 7 bombings and hailed UK's counter-terrorism "the envy of the world".

Three of the London suicide bombers were from Pakistani families and two - Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer - went to Pakistan for terror training before the attacks.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team