8 ISIS militants held in Pak’s Punjab

From M Zulqernain Lahore, Sep 17 (PTI) Pakistan police have arrested eightIslamic State militants who were planning "large-scale" terrorattacks on government installations in Punjab province. The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) spokesman said fourmembers of the terrorist group were arrested yesterday fromLahore, following a tip-off that "terrorists belonging to theIS were planning to attack government installations on a largescale in Lahore and assassination of officials of intelligenceagencies." He said the arrested men also had links with "terroristswho had killed policemen in Lahore and Faisalabad" and theywere attempting to trigger unrest in the province. CTD seized 1,600-kg explosives, safety fuse and fournon-electric detonators from them. In another raid in Chan Qila Gujranwala district, about 80kilometres from Lahore, CTD in collaboration with intelligenceagency officials arrested four other IS members. They seized weapons and explosives from their possession. CTD said the arrested terrorists were planning to targetofficials of law enforcement agencies in Gujranwala. The Pakistani government has regularly denied the presenceof IS in the country, but law enforcement agencies have beenarresting IS members from different parts of the country. PTIMZABH