Unprecedented security measures have been implemented in places vulnerable to suicide attacks and terrorist activities in the federal capital.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has beefed-up security fearing terror attacks by militants targeting sensitive locations, including the Parliament House, in retaliation for the bloody military operation at the radical Lal Masjid last month.
According to government sources, unprecedented security measures have been implemented in places vulnerable to suicide attacks and terrorist activities in the federal capital.
Security has been tightened around the Parliament House, Aiwan-e-Saddar, Supreme Court, Prime Minister Secretariat and Pakistan Secretariat.
The Punjab Constabulary and Elite Force personnel have been assigned responsibilities to help the federal police in the new anti-terror drive, the Daily Times reported on Friday.
The security forces were put on high-alert last week after intelligence agencies warned of terrorist attacks targeting parliamentarians and sensitive locations.
Intelligence agencies had reported to the Interior Ministry that terrorists could hit parliament while it is in session, the daily said.
Attacks on government forces have surged and more than 360 people have been killed, including at least 102 who died in an army raid last month on Islamabad's radical Lal Masjid. Pro-Taliban militants have vowed to avenge those deaths.
The government since early last month has been redeploying troops that were withdrawn from the tribal zone, alleged to be a "haven for Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants", after a controversial peace deal with pro-Taliban militants in September 2006 to maintain local security collapsed.
China and Pakistan recently constituted a Joint Task Force to protect Chinese nationals who were increasingly becoming target of militants in the South Asian nation.
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