Lahore, Dec 20 (IANS): Nine terrorists belonging to the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Islamic State (IS) militant groups were arrested in separate intelligence-based operations in Punjab province, an official said.

In a bid to avert terror activities, the personnel of the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab police conducted more than 40 operations in different districts of the province late Saturday and arrested nine militants, Mansoor-ul-Haq Rana, senior superintendent of police of Punjab's CTD, told Xinhua news agency on Sunday.

The arrested militants were planning to carry out terror activities in the province, he added.

Six terrorists were arrested during the operation in Lahore, according to the CTD, adding that the accused have been shifted to an undisclosed location for investigation.

Separately, three militants were nabbed in two separate raids at their hideouts in Punjab's Multan and Toba Tek Singh districts.

Police recovered a huge cache of explosives, weapons, detonators and sensitive material from their possession.

The arrested were also involved in collecting donations to finance terror activities in Punjab and distributing banned books among people and motivating them to join the militant organisations, according to the police.