by Muhammad Tahir
ISLAMABAD, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- A deadly attack on a police training center in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta that killed 60 policemen and injured 117 others has raised concern about the presence of the terrorist groups despite the success of the country's efforts to eliminate terrorist networks.
A breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban and the Islamic State (IS), or Daesh, both claimed they were behind the carnage. Officials in Balochistan of which Quetta is the capital blamed the banned sectarian group, "Lashkar-e-Jhangvi" for the brutal attack. IS also released photographs of the alleged attackers through its Amaq news agency.
Chief of the paramilitary Frontier Corps, Major General Sher Afgun, said the attackers were "receiving instructions" from their handlers in the neighboring Afghanistan.
Although there is substantial decrease in terrorist acts in Pakistan as the result of military operations in the country's tribal regions, the Quetta attack shows the armed groups still have some hideouts where they plan and execute attacks.
The groups, which had previously operated from the Pakistani tribal regions, have been deprived of their hideouts and the security officials here believe most of the militants have now shifted their centers to Afghanistan and operate from there.
Security officials also believe that some of the fleeing militants have taken shelter in urban areas, who are now the target of the intelligence-based and combing operations. The attack in Quetta suggested that the armed groups have now focused the cities, which is still a challenge for the security agencies.
The military with the help of civilian intelligence agencies and the police is now chasing the facilitators and financiers of the terrorists who are now hiding in densely populated areas.
They have managed to arrest many suspects, but the terrorists still have some sort of system to strike in parts of the country.
Read the full story at Xinhua