ISLAMABAD, 28 December 2003 — Investigators probing the suicide bomb attack on President Pervez Musharraf are expected to make arrests soon, a government minister said yesterday.
“The progress of investigations has been very positive so far,” Information Minister Sheikh Rashid announced.
Those responsible for planning the attacks are expected to be arrested soon, he said.
“We have entered the network of suspects and soon will get everybody.”
Rashid said the same teams assigned with the task of investigating a Dec. 14 attack on Musharraf were also working on the latest assassination attempt.
Asked who could be behind the suicide attacks, he said: “These could be domestic and international terror networks.”
“We will deal with an iron hand with the people playing with the security and solidarity of the country.”
A spokesman for Interior Ministry told AFP that investigations were continuing and some people have been questioned about the ownership of the cars used in the attacks.
“Investigators have questioned some four to five people who have been owning the cars used in attacks, including car dealers,” spokesman Abdul Rauf told AFP.
“However no arrests have been made yet,” Rauf said. Asked about the identity of the suicide attackers he said: “There is no further development on the identities of attackers, but further investigations are being carried out.”
Security officials in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir said three suspects have been rounded up late Friday in connection with the attack on Musharraf.
“We have rounded up three suspects,” a security official said.
Musharraf escaped unhurt on Thursday when suicide bombers driving cars packed with explosives rammed the Pakistani leader’s motorcade at a petrol station two kilometers (1.2 miles) from his residence in Rawalpindi, near the capital Islamabad.
Officials said 15 people, including the two suicide attackers, were killed and 45 injured. Another victim had died overnight. The dead include four policemen, Rawalpindi police chief Marwat Shah said.
Analysts and commentators suspect that Al-Qaeda militants and religious fanatics in Pakistan could be behind an increasingly organized effort to kill Musharraf, a key ally in the US-led war against terror.
Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat said Friday the bombers in the latest attack had been identified by security agencies, but declined to give further information.
“The suicide bombers involved in the attack on Thursday have been identified,” he told the upper house of Parliament. “The face of one is recognizable.”
He would not provide further details, saying this could hamper the inquiry.
“We are also actively pursuing those who are at the back (of the people) committing these crimes.”
All possible measures were being taken to safeguard the president’s life, he said.
“We are not going to yield to any of these terrorist activities. This government is committed to uprooting terrorism, extremism and sectarian hatred.”
Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali also told reporters Friday that the government had “found some clues” to the suicide attack, but refused to divulge details, saying “it is a very serious matter and the government is probing it”. Jamali said the attack would not disrupt a South Asian summit scheduled in Islamabad for Jan. 4-6. “It will be held on schedule,” he said, adding that the security system would be revamped following the twin suicide bombings.
