Rana Sanaullah, the country’s law minister, says the arrests were the result of raids in four Punjab cities over the weekend.
The minister says those arrested had been tasked with setting up sleeper cells for ISIL, and that those arrested include purported ISIL Islamabad chief Amir Mansoor, his deputy Abdullah Mansoori and the group’s chief for Sindh province, Umer Kathio.
The minister says the raids also yielded ISIL literature and weapons, the Associated Press reported.
He says the operation against alleged ISIL militants was launched after a raid last week in Daska district, also in Punjab province, when 13 other ISIL suspects were arrested.