Pakistan beefs up security at nuclear sites after terror attack intercepts

Pakistani authorities have pressed large contingents of soldiers and policemen into action at one of the country's largest nuclear facilities in Dera Ghazi Khan following "serious" threats from the local Taliban, a media report said yesterday.

In addition to the deployment inside and around the nuclear installation, three army divisions in the southern part of Punjab have been directed to  crack down on the banned groups, according to the The Express Tribune which quoted sources.

This could be the first ever security threat to a Pakistani nuclear facility and the army and security forces are taking no risks, the report said.

According to the daily, which quoted sources in the military and Punjab Police the nature of threat at the nuclear installation was "serious," with an 80 per cent chance of occurrence.

The paper said, that the ISI reportedly intercepted a telephone call from the Pakistani Taliban, in which members of the banned group were heard finalising their strategy for attacks on nuclear installations in Dera Ghazi Khan.

It further quoted an unnamed high-ranking military officer serving at the installation  as saying that Dera Ghazi Khan housed one of the largest nuclear facilities in the country and was faced with the first ever serious security threat from the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.