Pakistani police detain 13 suspected Daesh militants

Pakistani counter-terrorism forces have detained at least 13 Daesh suspected militants who were planning to carry out terror attacks across the violence-hit country. 

Pakistani officials said on Tuesday that the militants were arrested after police commandos from the counter-terrorism department (CTD) raided their hideout in Daska, a town in the eastern Punjab Province. 

Police authorities seized weapons and recovered "Daesh literature and CDs" from militants' possessions. 

Provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah confirmed that the militants were orchestrating a series of terror attacks across the troubled region. 

"They were trying to establish their group network and had plans to carry out attacks," Sanaullah said, adding,  "All of them are young and in their 20's."

Sanaullah also noted that the men were receiving instruction from a top militant leader via internet. "They were taking instruction via the Internet from a person named Abu Muawiyah."

Also on December 21, law enforcement agencies in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi said that they were hunting down a network of women acting as fundraisers for the Daesh terrorist group that is wreaking havoc in several countries, mainly Iraq and Syria.

In May, the Daesh militant group claimed responsibility for a deadly attack that killed at least 43 members of the Shia Ismaili community in Karachi.  

In recent months, the Daesh militant group has been making inroads in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The  group is also using a sophisticated social media campaign to woo local Taliban and other militants.

Residents in Pakistan’s troubled northwestern tribal regions have reported the circulation of leaflets backing Daesh terrorists in the region. Slogans in support of the group have also been seen on the walls in a number of towns. 

The Pakistani army chief has also admitted that some groups in the country were attempting to prepare the ground for Daesh activity.

“There are people in Islamabad who want to show their allegiance to Daesh. So it's a very dangerous phenomenon,” General Raheel Sharif said in an address to the Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies in the British capital, London, in early October.

However, General Sharif vowed that Pakistan would not allow "even a shadow" of the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group into the country.

“As far as Daesh is concerned, in Pakistan, even a shadow of Daesh would not be allowed,” General Sharif emphasized, calling Daesh a greater threat than al-Qaeda.

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