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At least five terrorists were killed and over 600 suspects arrested in an extensive operation launched by security forces across Pakistan's eastern Punjab province following the Sunday's deadly suicide blast in the provincial capital of Lahore, local media reported on Tuesday.
At least 74 people including 29 children were killed and over 300 others injured in the blast that hit the crowded Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park in downtown Lahore on Sunday evening. A splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, had claimed responsibility for the attack.
Local Urdu TV channel Dunya reported that the five terrorists, belonging to a banned militant group, were killed in two separate shootouts with security forces during the search operations in Rajanpur district and Muzaffargarh district in southern part of Punjab.
According to the reports, at least 250 suspects were detained in Sialkot district, 200 in Gujranwala, 80 in Faisalabad, 34 in Rahim Yar Khan, 18 in Kasur, 10 in Bhakkar, six in Attock and one in Bahawalpur, while several others were also arrested from other different districts of the province.
Security forces along with police launched the operation in Punjab on late Sunday night after the country's Army Chief General Raheel Sharif chaired a high-level meeting of military officials and directed the concerned commanders to start a quick operation to bring the terrorists and their facilitators to justice.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, in his televised address to the nation on Monday, reiterated the government's resolve to wipe out the menace of terrorism from the country.
"The provinces should speed up intelligence-based operations against terrorists," said Sharif. "Our goal is not only to eliminate terror infrastructure but also the extremist mind-set."
A spokesperson of the Inter Services Public Relations, Pakistan army's mouthpiece, said that a huge cache of arms and ammunition were recovered during the intelligence based operations.
Punjab's law minister Rana Sanaullah told media on Tuesday that it is a"national operation"and at least 160 intelligence based operations have been conducted so far. Enditem
