Islamabad: A terrorist group has plans to
carry out a rocket attack on the Pakistani capital similar to
the one against an elite military academy in the garrison town
of Abbottabad, a top police official has said.
Islamabad police chief Bin Yamin Khan said the city was
facing the threat of an attack like the one on the Pakistan
Military Academy on January 27 but comprehensive security
measures had been put in place to counter such an assault.
The terrorist group could carry out the rocket attack
from the Margalla Hills that overlook Islamabad, a
daily quoted its sources in security agencies as saying.
The areas under the secretariat and Kohsar police
stations in the heart of the city had been declared the "most
sensitive and under-threat" regions, the sources said.
The Islamabad police chief chaired an emergency meeting
yesterday evening to review the security situation.
Khan said helicopters were being used to conduct
"comprehensive surveillance" of the Margalla Hills and other
sensitive areas.
The threat to Islamabad came to light after intelligence
agencies nabbed two terrorists who were involved in the attack
on the Pakistan Military Academy.
The two men, who were nabbed during a crackdown in
Taxila, disclosed that they had plans to target sensitive
buildings in Islamabad from the Margalla Hills, The News
reported.
The terrorists told investigators that there could be
some terrorists hiding in the jungles of the Margalla Hills to
execute the plan.
The daily reported that Islamabad had received three
threats of rocket attacks since the assault on the military
academy in Abbottabad.
Stringent security measures were put in place in the
federal capital to prevent such an attack and paramilitary
troops from the Pakistan Rangers and Frontier Corps were
directed to assist the civil administration.
During the attack in Abbottabad on January 27, militants
fired nine rockets at the town located 120 km from Islamabad.
Two rockets hit the outer wall of the Pakistan Military
Academy, which is located near a compound where Osama bin
Laden lived for five years, while others landed in residential
areas.
There were no casualties in the attack.
PTI
