New Delhi: Following an intelligence warning of a potential abduction plot targeting foreign guests at the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, the security forces in Pakistan are reportedly on ‘high alert’, reports claimed. According to several reports, the alert has been issued against potential threat from terror outfits like Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), ISIS, and Balochistan-based groups.
The terror outfits are planning to kidnap foreigners attending the tournament to seek ransom, India Today reported. The report also claimed that ISIS was specifically targeting Chinese and Arab nationals and was conducting surveillance at ports, airports, offices, and residential areas frequently used by visitors from these countries.
According to intelligence reports, Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) operatives plan to rent properties on the outskirts of cities as safe houses. In doing so, they are deliberately choosing locations without camera surveillance and accessible only by rickshaw or motorcycle, India Today report cited. The group intends to move kidnapped individuals between safe houses at night time to evade security personnel.
This caution has been issued by the Pakistani intel at a time when the country is facing growing concerns about its ability to secure major international events. The country had been accused of downplaying attacks on foreign nationals in the past. Incidents such as the 2024 attack on Chinese engineers in Shangla and the 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore had raised questions on the security preparedness in the country.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s intelligence agency (GDI) has also alerted authorities to possible ISKP attacks. The agency has also stepped up efforts to track missing operatives linked to the terror outfit.
