Bid to bomb sensitive buildings foiled in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD - A bid to bomb sensitive buildings and key installations of the armed forces was Thursday foiled in the garrison town of Rawalpindi adjacent to this federal capital, a media report said.

Dawn TV reported that acting on a tip-off, police recovered two cartons containing explosives from the busy Mureer Chowk area of Rawalpindi.

Mureer Chowk houses several important buildings, including army supply stores, offices, shopping centres and a bus station. Hundreds of people commute through this area at any given time of the day.

The quantity of the recovered explosives was, however, not known, or of what intensity of blasts it could have caused, high-ranked police officials said on condition of anonymity.

Security forces have sealed off the area and started a search operation to track down the suspects.

Pakistan’s armed forces have been a target of militants in the last few years, ever since the country launched a crackdown to flush out terrorists from the northwestern tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

Hundreds of people have lost their lives in several suicide bombings in Rawalpindi, which also houses the headquarters of the Pakistani army.