Islamabad shootout marks start of terror attacks: Interior minister

ISLAMABAD:-Federal Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed has described an attack on a police checkpoint in Islamabad as an act of terror and said that it indicates that terror attacks have started in the capital city.

The attack in the Karachi Company area of Islamabad on Monday night left one policeman dead while two suspected terrorists were killed when policemen returned fire.

They attacker were riding motorcycles and opened gunfire when policemen manning a checkpoint beckoned them to stop.

Rahseed, who was speaking after attending the funeral prayers of the martyred policeman, said that the attackers were not petty criminals.

“It was not an issue of robbery or dacoity. This is purely an issue of terrorism. We have traced [the origin of] both attackers.”

The interior minister said security agencies had located the sleeper cell of the terrorist taking cues from the motorbikes they were using.

He said this was a signal that terror incidents have been started in Islamabad.

Islamabad police is alert more than ever, he added.