ISLAMABAD, 21 July 2005 — Pakistan detained more than 200 suspected militants in a crackdown launched in response to the London bombings, twice the number given earlier, the Interior Ministry said yesterday.

“A little more than 200 people have been rounded up in the raids nationwide on suspected madrasas, offices of the militant outfits, shops and houses,” an Interior Ministry official told AFP in Islamabad.

Pakistan has been acting against extremists since it emerged that three suicide bombers involved in the July 7 London attacks were Britons of Pakistani origin who had recently visited the South Asian country.

“The crackdown is in response to the London bombings,” said a senior intelligence officer. “We are obviously under tremendous pressure to show the world that we are moving against militants.”

A senior security official said President Pervez Musharraf had given “clear orders” to stamp out militancy and demanded a “zero tolerance” attitude against those spreading violence and hatred.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday said he was “anxious” for Pakistan to crack down on madrasas, while US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Musharraf to discuss the “fight against terrorism,” government officials said without elaborating.

Most of the arrests were made in the country’s eastern Punjab province and in southern Sindh province, the Interior Ministry official said. Police sources in Punjab said they had detained about 65 suspected militants from different cities, including 20 from Multan and about a dozen in the provincial capital Lahore.

Some 16 suspects were picked up in raids on at least four madrasas overnight in the capital Islamabad, where police used tear gas against hundreds of protesting students.

At least 52 people had been taken into custody during raids in militant hide-outs, madrasas and houses in Sindh, said provincial Home Secretary Muhtarum.

“Reports I have received so far revealed arrests of 52 militants of outlawed groups, and more are likely to be arrested as we will not allow extremism at any cost,” said Muhtarum, a retired brigadier.

Some 30 newspaper sellers were also detained within 24 hours for selling newspapers and magazines containing “hate material”, said the Karachi president of the Newspaper Hawkers Association, Abdul Rahim Pathan.

Authorities in North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan said some 40 suspected militants had been detained in police raids in several cities.

“At least 40 suspects have been taken into custody, and the crackdown is in progress in all 24 districts of the province,” provincial police spokesman Riaz Khan told AFP.

Police in southwestern Balochistan said they had arrested 30 suspected militants during raids on madrasas and offices of religious groups in two districts of the province which also borders Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, security forces have arrested a British Muslim believed to be wanted in connection with the London bombings, Pakistani intelligence sources said, but Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed denied he had been detained.

Several intelligence sources, who asked not to be identified, said Haroon Rashid Aswad had been picked up earlier this week during a crackdown on militants in Pakistan that has netted 200 people.

Officials said Aswad had been taken from Sargodha and was being held in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province.