Lahore attack: Pak Army Chief orders massive counter-terror operations

Karachi: Following the deadly suicide bomb attack at a Lahore park, Pakistan Army chief General Raheel Sharif called on the military and paramilitary Rangers to lauch joint overnight raids against militants in central and southern regions of Punjab leading to the arrest to dozens of terror suspects and their facilitators.

According to the Express Tribune, security forces launched operations against members of banned outfits in various cities of Punjab including Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Kamoki, Sialkot, Narowal, Jehlum, Bahawalpur and Muzzafargarh arresting over 350 suspected terrorists and their facilitators.

"Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif chaired a high-level security meeting at the General Headquarters (GHQ) today to review progress of operations in Punjab to nab terrorists in the aftermath of Lahore blast," tweeted Lt General Asim Saleem Bajwa, director general of the military`s media wing, Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), on Monday.

Following the blast, the army chief had chaired a high-level meeting including heads of the Inter Services Intelligence of the military`s top brass and called for another meeting within 24 hours and directed them to launch operations to find linkages and perpetrators of the attack.

As many as 72 people were killed, including 29 children, and 370 people were injured when a bomber targeted Christians celebrating Easter at the Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park in Lahore on Sunday.