A top commander of Lashkar-e-Islam – a banned outfit – was among the 12 terrorists and their facilitators arrested as security forces and police conducted raids in Khyber and Peshawar, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Friday.

It started with the arrest of Lashkar-e-Islam commander Zakir Afridi and three other terrorists at Sapah in the Bara area of Khyber district. Three suicide jackets and six locally-made bombs were also recovered from their possession during the raid.

Later, the law-enforcers captured eight of their facilitators from Badaber – a rural area located around 10 kilometres south of Peshawar city – on the basis of information obtained from them.

According to security sources, the detained extremists had planned to large-scale terror activity in the provincial capital on December 25. They have now been shifted to some undisclosed location for further interrogation.

The arrests came at a time when a top Taliban delegation, led by Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, is on a visit of Pakistan for talks with government officials.