KARACHI, 23 October 2003 — Four suspected militants belonging to an outlawed group have been arrested for a spate of attacks this year in the port city of Karachi, police said yesterday.
The four, belonging to the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi group, carried out at least eight attacks this year, including one on a bus on Oct. 3 that killed six people, said provincial police chief Syed Kamal Shah.
The ringleader, Shahnawaz Shan, also confessed to a failed suicide bombing attack on a senior police official in July, Shah told reporters.
“He was arrested in an overnight raid. Police seized a Kalashnikov rifle and a pistol from his possession.” Based on Shan’s statements, three of his accomplices were arrested in a series of raids and police found several assault rifles, hand grenades and explosives in their possession, Shah added.
The group also attacked a mosque on Feb. 22, killing nine people. “So far we have not been able to find out whether they had ties with Al-Qaeda.” Lashkar-e-Jhangvi had close ties with the Taleban and some of its militants also helped Al-Qaeda network in Pakistan.
Police blame Lashkar-e-Jhangvi for most of the sectarian bloodletting in Pakistan. Every year hundreds of people are killed in the country in targeted attacks by militants.
Earlier this month, unidentified gunmen in Islamabad shot dead Azam Tariq, the leader of another banned group, Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan.
