Bhopal, Sep 28 (PTI) Four more persons have been arrested by the Madhya Pradesh police for their links with the Popular Front of India, taking the number to 25, state Home Minister Narottam Mishra said on Wednesday as he welcomed the ban on the group by the Centre terming it as an "internal surgical strike".

According to sources in the police, 25 persons were arrested in the last three days, including 21 from eight districts of the state on Tuesday.

Mishra said the banned organisation was involved in anti-national activities and had links with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

Four more persons were arrested for PFI links. So far, 25 people, including 21 on Tuesday, have been arrested (by MP Police). The action against PFI's sleeper cells will continue in the state based on the interrogation of the arrested persons , Mishra told reporters in Bhopal.

Four PFI activists were arrested on September 22 in a multi-agency operation spearheaded by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) from Madhya Pradesh.

The crackdown by MP Police came after the NIA action.

Mishra said the PFI was also involved in killings and violence in several states.

This (the ban on PFI) is a welcome step. The Centre's action against PFI is an internal surgical strike. The BJP government doesn't believe in the politics of appeasement, he said.

The Central government on Wednesday banned PFI, alleged to be involved in several violent and terror incidents and having "links" with global terror groups like ISIS, along with its several associates for five years following the second round of crackdown against its leaders.

A day before, more than 150 people allegedly linked with PFI were detained or arrested in raids across seven states, five days after a similar pan-India crackdown against the 16-year-old group led to the arrest of more than a hundred of its activities.