KARACHI, 11 April 2004 — A huge arms cache has been seized in a raid by paramilitary soldiers in Karachi.
Police said the raid was carried out following suspicious activities of some persons in the area. Nobody has been arrested, but investigations are under way.
Paramilitary Rangers seized the weapons in a raid late Friday on a house under construction. The weapons included a Russian-made mortar, shells and rockets.
“This is the first time we seized an 82mm gun in Karachi,” Rangers Col. Zafar Iqbal Awan told a news conference. Officials said the mortar could hit a target at a distance of 5 km (3 miles).
Awan said it was too early to blame any group for bringing the weapons into Karachi.
The raid followed reports that an unidentified outlawed group had hidden weapons in the building under construction, said Cheema. Nobody was in the building when the soldiers entered. They seized one rocket launcher, the 82mm gun, seven rockets, 18 mortar shells and other explosives.
Cheema said the group had hidden the weapons “for some act of terrorism,” but gave no further details. He said the military was still investigating the case.
Separately yesterday, police seized more than seven kg (15 pounds) of high-grade explosives, several detonators and hand grenades in a raid at an abandoned house in northern Karachi.
The explosives and the bomb-making material were packed in a suitcase, Inspector Tahir Ameer said.
Last Sunday, police detained nine suspected militants, including a man believed to have been behind two suicide bomb attacks in 2002 outside the US Consulate and a hotel in Karachi that left 26 people dead.
Islamic groups have been angered by President Parvez Musharraf’s support for the US-led war on terror. Musharraf, who outlawed nearly a dozen militant groups after seizing power in a 1999 coup, has survived at least three assassination attempts.
Karachi has seen a spate of assaults, including suicide bombings, targeting Westerners, government officials and the religious minorities in the last couple of years.
Police blame most of these attacks on religious extremists furious at the government’s support for the war on terror following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
Protection for Embassy
In the capital Islamabad, the Spanish Embassy has been provided special security cover in the wake of Madrid bombings and subsequent plots of terrorism in Spain.
Intelligence sources said the federal capital police had deputed commandos at the Spanish Embassy situated in the diplomatic enclave to ward off any attempt on the embassy premises. A temporary police post has also been established outside the embassy with a senior police officer to supervise it.
The security for other Western diplomatic missions within the diplomatic enclave and outside has also been beefed up keeping the developments in Iraq in view, the sources said. All entry points in Islamabad in general and the diplomatic enclave in particular are manned by additional force. The state of high alert would continue, the sources said.
The Spanish Embassy has expressed satisfaction over the arrangements made by the authorities. The diplomats and other staff members of the mission have been advised to notify the administration about their routine movements and to avoid exposure at places where there could be a problem for them, the sources added.
They quoted federal Secretary of the Interior Tasneem Noorani as saying the diplomatic enclave in the capital has been heavily secured and converted into a “safe castle.”
The sources said the capital’s police was being reorganized and revamped. “A separate security squad is being created for Islamabad to be headed by a superintendent of police. The squad will function separately from the police,” the source said.
Islamabad police will be divided into two sections. The government will provide special funds for this, the sources added.
