ISLAMABAD, 6 October 2006 — A mobile phone connected by wires to two rockets was discovered yesterday near the residence of Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and other federal buildings, prompting a security lock-down at the site where the weapons were discovered.

The discovery of the rockets came less than 12 hours after a blast near Musharraf’s residence in Rawalpindi, near the capital. Authorities said they do not believe that the two incidents are linked.

After a bomb squad disarmed the rockets, the Interior Ministry informed the public that the weapon, set up to be discharged by a phone call, was not aimed at any specific target. Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao told the media that the rockets appear to have been set up “to create public chaos and confusion in the capital and harass the public.”

But one security official, who did not want to be identified, said the rockets appeared to have a target. “They were apparently pointing toward the presidency,” said the official. “Luckily some laborers working at a nearby construction site saw the rockets and reported them to police.”

The 107mm rockets, affixed to launchers and hidden in some bushes, were located less than a kilometer from the Pakistani Parliament building and other key central government buildings.

The rockets were said to be Russian-made, prompting authorities to suspect they may have been brought in from Afghanistan. Security forces were on television implicating Taleban operatives as the culprits. About 80 construction workers at the site where the devices were discovered were detained for questioning, but no charges have been filed.

Musharraf was seen on state television at a news conference about reconstruction after last year’s earthquake while authorities were defusing the rockets. Later, the president arrived by helicopter to another event in Islamabad while a heavily guarded convoy drove earlier as a decoy.

The president, who has ducked previous assassination attempts since his bloodless 1999 coup, did not comment on yesterday’s discovery.

One security official earlier said that Wednesday’s blast in Ayub Park in Rawalpindi was caused by a rocket, but senior officials later denied this. Officials also rejected reports that a large quantity of unexploded material was found.

Musharraf has skirted attempts on his life numerous times, the first when electronic jamming equipment in his convoy delayed the detonation of a bridge in December 2003. Days later, a suicide attack missed the Pakistani president but killed 14 bystanders. Police thwarted an attempt to fire a rocket at Musharraf’s car during a National Day parade in 2004.