Pakistan police on Friday arrested three suicide bombers having links with al Qaeda and Taliban who were planning to target senior officials in the country.
KARACHI: Pakistan police on Friday arrested three suicide bombers having links with al Qaeda and Taliban who were planning to target senior officials in the country.
The three men, Shahid, Farhan and Ghani, who belong to Qari Zafar group, were arrested after an encounter in Gulistan-e-Jauhar, one of the most populated areas of Karachi, Fayyaz Khan, Superintendent of Police, Criminal Investigation Department, said.
Police recovered jackets used in carrying out suicide attacks along with three bombs, two pistols and grenades from their possession, Khan said.
The men were arrested on a tip-off and their group is believed to be behind other terrorist attacks in the country since 2002, Khan said.
"This time they were planning fresh attacks in some cities and we have recovered a list from them in which Iraqi style suicide target attacks have been planned on some senior officials," he said.
The official said the militants had "confessed to having links with Al-Qaeda and the Taliban and have been operating out of the tribal areas of Pakistan bordering with Afghanistan".
The militants revealed that "there were eight or nine others belonging to their group, who have received training in Eana in south Waziristan. We are conducting raids to also arrest them," Khan said.
Pakistan has been hit by a series of terrorist and suicide bomb attacks since last month starting with a failed attempt by a suicide bomber to enter a five star hotel in Islamabad, hours before a reception there by Indian High Commissioner Satyabrata Pal to mark the Republic Day, in which the attacker and a security guard were killed
One day later another suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowded market place in the city of Peshawar killing 15 people and than a suicide bomber was apprehended and killed in Dera Ismail Khan.
There was also an attempted terrorist attack at the Rawalpindi airport earlier this month when two militants tried to enter the VIP lounge area and one of them was killed when his hand grenade went off while trying to flee.
Law enforcement agencies believe a Taliban commander, Baitullah Mashud was behind the terrorist attacks but he has denied his involvement in a tribal elders meeting in Waziristan.
Fayyaz Khan said the police were carrying out more investigations and feared the group to which the three arrested militants belonged was also involved in other attacks.
They also planned to attack a major defence exhibition in the port city last year, police said.
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