Police in Pakistan's populous province of Punjab have detained over 50 people in a crackdown on the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan that was launched in the wake of terror attacks on the minority Shia community. The crackdown has focused on the southern part of Punjab, where several militant groups like the LeJ and Jaish-e-Mohammed have strongholds and support bases.
A top commander of outlawed Lashkar-e-Jhangvi was on Thursday killed along with three other militants in an "encounter" with the police in Lahore.
Pakistan's banned terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi on Wednesday took responsibility for a bomb attack on a senior judge of the Sindh high court earlier this month in which nine people were killed.
A member of the banned militant group Laskar-e-Jhangvi was awarded death penalty on 3 separate counts and slapped with a hefty fine of Rs 5 million by a Pakistani anti-terrorism court in Lahore for abducting an American doctor in 2011.
The United States has designated Lashkar-e-Jhangvi co-founder Malik Ishaq, who is responsible for killing scores of members of Pakistan's Shia minority, as a global terrorist.
The four Lashkar-e-Jhangvi terrorists were shot dead by Pakistani police in Lahore.
Malik Ishaq, the chief of banned sectarian outfit Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, his two sons and 11 top members of the group linked to Al Qaeda were killed in an "encounter" in Pakistan's Punjab province, police said on Wednesday.
TTP chief said the blast was in retaliation for killing LeJ chief Chotu, along with three others in an encounter.
Four members of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi were killed and seven others arrested during an operation conducted by security forces in the restive southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta in the wake of a terror attack that killed nearly 90 people last week.
The US Department of Treasury on Thursday designating two of Pakistan's most wanted terrorists, Lashkar-e Jhangvi senior leader Amanullah Afridi for acting for or on behalf of the LeJ and LeJ chief operational commander Mati ur-Rehman for acting for or on behalf of the Al Qaeda. The Treasury also designated a third individual, Abdul Rauf Azhar, a senior leader of Jaish-e Mohammed.
Civilian and military security forces deployed in Balochistan have done little to investigate attacks on Hazara or take steps to prevent the next attack, says a Human Rights Watch report.
United States officials have identified Pakistan as a base of operations or target for numerous armed and non state militant groups, some of which have existed since the 1980s, the independent Congressional Research Service said in the report.
Former premier Yousuf Raza Gilani's son Ali Haider, kidnapped by gunmen while campaigning for Pakistan's landmark elections, had received threats from the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Sipah-e-Sahaba.
Pakistani authorities on Friday issued a list of 109 "most wanted" terrorists, including Lashkar-e-Jhangvi member Mati-ur-Rehman who was accused of involvement in a suicide attack on former premier Shaukat Aziz.
After the Afghan and Pakistani Talibans, the LeT and the LeJ, the most capable and lethal terrorist organisation today is the Al Qaeda of Arabian Peninsula, says B Raman
A Pakistani court has rejected the bail application of Malik Ishaq, chief of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi that has been blamed for a series of attacks on the Shia minority.
"The creation of the cells is aimed at coordinating the banned group's activities in the area ranging from the southern port city of Karachi to Waziristan in the restive tribal belt bordering Afghanistan," the Express Tribune newspaper quoted its sources in Kohat, Hangu, Peshawar and Lahore as saying.
Pakistan Science and Technology Minister Fawad Hussain claimed that Sri Lankan cricket players opted out from the upcoming tour of Pakistan after India threatened them that they will be ousted from the Indian Premier League if they failed to do so.
Pakistan's Punjab province Home Minister Shuja Khanzada was on Sunday assassinated along with eight others when a suicide bomber blew himself up at his house in Shadi Khal village in Attock district.
Malik Ishaq, dreaded chief of banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi that has carried out attacks on minority Shias and the mastermind of the assault on the Sri Lankan cricket team in 2009, has been released after 3 years in jail with the Pakistan government not seeking an extension of his detention.
The notification detaining Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the key planner of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, under a publc security order was on Monday suspended by the Islamabad high court.
The attack on the Balochistan Police College, 20 km from Quetta city began around 11:10 pm on Monday night, triggering an operation by Pakistani security forces who rescued hundreds of cadets from the academy.
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