ISLAMABAD, 16 March 2005 — Security agencies have arrested a member of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, an outlawed militant group suspected of involvement in a December 2003 attempt to kill President Pervez Musharraf, an intelligence official said yesterday.
Mufti Eid Muhammad, a member of the banned group, was arrested in Lahore about three weeks ago, said the official.
He said Muhammad was a bomb expert believed to have helped plant explosives under a bridge in the garrison city of Rawalpindi which were detonated on Dec. 14, 2003, seconds after Musharraf’s motorcade passed over it.
Musharraf survived another attack in Rawalpindi, this time by suicide bombers, just 11 days later. The official said that under interrogation Muhammad had also confessed to bombing a bridge on Jan. 3, 1999, which then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had been due to cross.
