ISLAMABAD, 26 June 2005 — Pakistan categorically denied Russia’s allegation that there were training camps for Central Asian militants on its territory.
“There are no terrorist camps in Pakistan,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani said, commenting on a statement by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Lavrov said in Moscow Friday Russia had information that militants in Central Asia’s turbulent Fergana Valley were being trained in camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Jilani said “we are surprised at the reported remarks by the Russian foreign minister.”
“As a matter of fact Pakistan has taken decisive steps to root out this phenomenon from the soil of Pakistan.”
He said the role and sacrifices made by Pakistan, a key US ally in the “war on terror”, has been acknowledged by the international community.
Meanwhile, a private truck allegedly smuggling munitions exploded yesterday in a remote tribal region near the Afghan border, killing the driver and another person, officials said.
The explosion occurred near Wana, the main town in South Waziristan district where Pakistan Army troops are battling Al-Qaeda-linked militants, who fled into the region after the 2001 fall of the extremist Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan.
“The truck was smuggling explosives into Waziristan,” local administration official Anwar Zeb said.
Zeb said authorities were trying to determine the identity of the two killed in the explosion and the purpose for which the weapons were being transported.
Afghan and US government officials have said that Taleban militants hiding in the Pakistani tribal regions were conducting hit-and-run attacks on the US-led coalition and Afghan forces inside Afghanistan.
Since last year Pakistan, a key ally in what the US calls a war on terrorism, has conducted several major operations in its tribal regions.
It says it has destroyed hideouts and training camps of militants linked to Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network.
Pakistan Army last year destroyed militant hideouts in its northwestern tribal regions near Afghanistan border in a series of major operations during which many Central Asian militants killed or captured.
Its forces also suffered heavy casualties while arresting more than 700 Al-Qaeda-linked militants.
Suicide Attack Bid Foiled
Intelligence agents have arrested four militants and foiled a bid by them to carry out a suicide attack on a mosque in eastern Pakistan, a security official said yesterday.
The men, who are Pakistanis and belong to an outlawed militant group, were captured this week, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
No government spokesman was immediately available to confirm the arrests, but the official said the arrested men were from the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Sunni militant group, which last month orchestrated a suicide attack on a Shiite gathering at a shrine near Islamabad, killing 20 people.
But it was not clear whether the arrested men had also played any role in last month’s bombing at the Shiite gathering on the final day of a five-day annual festival at the Bari Imam shrine.
Police have said they are looking for Asif Chotto, reputed to be the head of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, who is believed to have masterminded major attacks against Shiites in recent years.
The latest arrests came weeks after intelligence agents — acting on a tip — stopped a car on a road in northwestern Pakistan and arrested two sisters who allegedly wanted to carry out suicide attack in Karachi, the nation’s commercial capital and the scene of repeated sectarian-related violence.
The women were from Lashkar-e-Jhangvi group, which was banned in 2001 for its suspected involvement in the killing of Shiites, who are a minority in Pakistan.
Also yesterday, Pakistan’s largest circulation English language newspaper The News reported that the arrested four men were planning attack on a mosque at Kharian, a town in eastern Punjab province.
