Pakistan ex-interior minister Rehman Malik says several IS operatives arrested

ISLAMABAD: Several militants linked with the Islamic State terror group have been arrested in Pakistan, country's former interior minister Rehman Malik claimed today.

Malik said that the IS network led by Yousuf Salfi is active in Pakistan.

He claimed having information from "reliable sources" about the threat of the IS, which controlled large areas in Iraq and Syria.

Malik claims came at the heels of threats by the IS to a lawyer representing a professor held for blasphemy in Multan.

Another lawyer, Rashid Rahman was killed this year for advocating the innocence of the man.

Malik who was interior minister from 2008 to 2013, said that the IS militant group had emerged after infighting between different groups included in the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) outfit.

Pakistan had denied the presence of any threat by the IS but the groups has regularly surfaced through wall-chalking in different cities.

Flags were also hoisted last month in Taxila near Islamabad.

Similarly, police in Lahore arrested two suspects for plastering Islamic State stickers on walls in various localities.

Leaflets calling for support for IS were seen in several parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including Bannu and South Waziristan tribal region's Wana area.