Security forces have apprehended about seven key terrorist commanders and some 225 other suspects from different cities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including provincial capital Peshawar, Nowshera and Sarband, a private TV channel reported on Sunday.According to the police, the raids were carried out in different parts of Peshawar city on a tip-off from law enforcement agencies. Officials from the security forces, the Frontier Constabulary and Elite Force, jointly carried out a search operation against terrorists and were provided assistance by the Nowshera police. The forces have confiscated ammunition in the Ziarat Kaka Sahib area of Nowshera, and from Ghari Atta, Ghari Qamaruddin, Bahadur Kalay, Landi Arbab, Mushtaq Abad, Charkha Khel, Bhana Mari and Bhad Beer. The police have captured seven terrorist commanders along with 29 other terrorist suspects from the Bandbasti area adjoining Khyber Agency, and recovered five-kilogramme bombs, 14 rifles, 20 pistols and seven Kalashnikovs, the channel said.
The police said that two arrested Taliban commanders were identified as Huzaifa Mehsud and Abu Abbas who hail from the Waziristan Agency. The Taliban commanders have been moved to an undisclosed location for investigation. The arrested militant commanders were wanted for having carried out explosions in schools and on a police checkpost in Nowshehra.
A key Taliban commander, however, escaped during the hunt. The troops demolished the houses of the leaders of militant organisations during the operation, the channel reported.