FAZAL SHER & ALI HUSSAIN

ISLAMABAD: The terror attack in Lahore on 24 July, which claimed 26 precious lives, is believed to have been carried out in connivance with the terrorists’ sleeper cells which are still active in some parts of the country especially in Punjab, security sources said.

Although investigation into every aspect of the Lahore attack is underway, security agencies are focusing on the role of local facilitators, they added.

Terror incidents have significantly declined across the country following the start of operation ‘Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad’ on February 22, 2017 and a number of terrorists and their facilitators have either been killed or arrested.

However terrorists’ sleeper cells are still active in parts of the country, especially in Punjab. “We are fighting against an invisible enemy who is hiding within our own cities and towns un-noticed. It will take time to completely destroy these sleeper cells but our intelligence agencies under the National Action Plan (NAP) are working hard to identify and eliminate their facilitators and supporters”, said a senior security official on condition of anonymity.

The attack follows the launch of Pakistan Army’s major ground offensive under Operation Khyber-4 in Rajgal Valley, Federal Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) along Pakistan-Afghan border on July 16, 2017 with a view to eliminating local militants and denying space to Daesh in the country.

The Lahore attack claimed by outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was carried out by a suicide bomber and targeted the police who were gathered at the site in an anti-encroachment drive against the illegal construction in Kot Lakhpat Fruit Mandi.

Security agencies said that there was a general threat of terror attack in the city and the prime target was law enforcement agencies.

The Lahore attack was carried out at 3:55 pm Monday, a little over nine hours after a suicide attack in Afghan capital at 6:40am the same day in which 31 people were killed, but analysts believe that there is no link between the two attacks and that they were coincidental as a revenge attack would have taken a lot longer to plan.

“You cannot link Lahore attack with Kabul to say that it could be a reaction to what happened in Kabul. I don’t see any linkage between the two terrorist attacks but the two nations are unfortunately victims of the terror outfits”, said Lt Gen (retd) Talat Masood, a senior security and defence analyst.

He further said that it was also unfortunate that the two countries, instead of cooperating to effectively fight terrorists, often engage in blame game. “We must understand that terrorism is a common challenge and the leadership of the two countries [Pakistan and Afghanistan] must understand that they need to fight together with coordinated effort instead of blaming each other for every terror attack happening in their respective countries”, he added.

As far as Lahore attack is concerned, he said that there are still a number of terrorists’ sleeper cells active in Punjab and these need to be eliminated.

According to the data complied by Business Recorder, terror incidents have significantly been declined in the country in the recent past.

In 2017 till date, a total of 15 terror attacks were carried out in different parts of the country in which 336 people lost their lives. Out of 15, seven attacks were carried out in FATA in which 146 people were killed while three attacks occurred in Punjab in which 46 people lost their lives.

According to the data, three terrorist attacks took place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in which 12 people lost their lives while two terror attacks occurred in Balochistan during the said period in which 40 people were killed.

In Sindh, one major terror attack took place in February when the suicide bomber targeted Sehwan Sharif, killing at 88 people.

During the ongoing year, Feb witnessed five major attacks followed by May and April, three and two attacks respectively. The terrorists carried out one attack each in Jan, March, June and July during the year 2017.