ISLAMABAD: The counterterrorism department of Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province said on Tuesday the Pakistan Taliban group was planning a “high-intensity attack” in the provincial capital of Peshawar and its surrounding areas within the next 10 days.
There has been a surge in militant attacks in a Pakistan in recent months since the Pakistan Taliban (TTP) unilaterally called off a cease-fire with the government last November.
The latest threat alert comes weeks after a suicide bomber wearing a police uniform infiltrated a heavily guarded compound in Peshawar in January and blew himself up during afternoon prayers at a mosque, in the deadliest attack Pakistan has seen for several years.
A notification from the KP counterterrorism department on Tuesday said militants were planning an attack like the one in Peshawar in January.
“It has been learnt through authentic sources that [the] TTP is planning [a] high-intensity attack in Peshawar or its surrounding areas in [the] next 5-10 days,” the notification said. “In this regard, necessary arrangements have been made,” it said.
“Terrorist[s] can plan [an] attack on big police gatherings, in any police station, police establishments, police lines, or traffic headquarters.”
The alert added that in view of security threats in the province and repeated attacks on police, “all possible security measures must be adopted.”
In January, TTP insurgents also attacked the Sarband Police Station in Peshawar, killing three policemen, including the deputy superintendent of police, in a gun and grenade attack. In December last year, Pakistani Taliban inmates seized a counterterrorism facility in KP’s Bannu district, which had to be taken back in a military operation.
