The Pakistani Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) announced on Monday the arrest of four people in connection with an attack on Chinese nationals northwest of the country last month.
The Department said the four suspects are key operatives in the attack, which targeted a bus transporting Chinese engineers in the remote Besham area of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
The attack claimed the lives of five Chinese nationals.
CTD said the four suspects are affiliated with the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) group.
Meanwhile, a Pakistani judge who was kidnapped by gunmen over the weekend was freed on Monday amid a deadly crackdown by security forces that killed at least six militants, officials said.
Local police officer Naeem Khan said the judge was whisked away by up to 15 militants who intercepted his car on a highway in the northern town of Dera Ismail on Saturday night.
The kidnapping, which has been blamed on the Pakistani Taliban, prompted a crackdown by the army, with at least six militants killed in separate raids at the weekend.
The circumstances of the judge’s release were not clear, but officer Khan said he was freed in a raid. He did not give any further details.
Earlier, the Pakistani security had thwarted a terrorist operation in Harnai district of northern Balochistan. A terrorist was killed and another injured in a gun battle with security forces.
The Pakistani Army Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement that the terrorists attempted to stop passenger vehicles traveling on Sanjavi Road in Harnai. Security forces promptly responded and effectively engaged the terrorists. A terrorist was killed and another injured in a gun battle.
Also, one terrorist was killed in an operation by security forces in Pakistan's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
