KARACHI, 18 December 2003 — Pakistani authorities have arrested 10 people, including Afghans, for suspected links with Al-Qaeda and their Taleban allies, officials said yesterday.
The suspects were arrested in Rawalpindi on Monday, but the Interior Ministry said the arrests were not related to Sunday’s bid to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf in the same city. Musharraf narrowly escaped an attack when a series of explosions ripped apart a bridge in Rawalpindi just after his motorcade passed by.
These 10 individuals were “involved in unlawful activities” and some weapons were seized, he said. “The detainees are being interrogated to ascertain more details and their identities,” he said.
The official said the raids were part of “the drive against Taleban and Al-Qaeda” and followed an intelligence tip-off. Pakistan has arrested more than 500 Al-Qaeda members, and handed over many of them to the United States over the past two years.
Separately on Tuesday, police arrested a man at a railway station in northwestern Pakistan for allegedly carrying explosives.
Ulfat Khan, 35, was arrested before boarding a train at Jehangira station in the North West Frontier Province, about 100 km northwest of Islamabad.
He was carrying two sticks of dynamite, two detonators and two fuses in his luggage, said Naimatullah Khan, a railway police official. The explosives were found during a routine police search. Police were investigating why he was carrying them.
The train was about to leave for the southern city of Karachi, which is Pakistan’s commercial center and main port on the Arabian Sea.
