Two from Al-Qaeda-linked group seized over Pakistan mosque blast
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-06-07 15:00

Pakistani police arrested two members of a banned Sunni Muslim extremist organisation with links to Al-Qaeda for a deadly suicide attack on a Shiite Muslim mosque last week, investigators said.

The pair from the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi group were held in Karachi in connection with the mosque attack in which five people were killed on May 30. The blast sparked riots in which a KFC outlet was torched, leaving another six dead.

One of Pakistan's most feared militant groups, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has been implicated in the videotaped beheading of US journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002 and in a number of attempts to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf.

Suspects Mufti Altaf and Bilal Farooqi were arrested in a raid early Tuesday on a house in Karachi's eastern Gulistan-e-Johar districts, a senior investigator told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Police recovered over 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of explosives, two hand grenades, extremist literature and other material, the investigator added.

Both of the captured suspects were on a police wanted list, officials said.

The raid was carried out after the interrogation of a militant who attacked the mosque and survived. Two attackers, a policeman and two civilians died in the blast and an ensuing gunfight.

"The attacker revealed important information about Lashkar-e-Jhangvi's plan for more suicide attacks," the investigator said.

Police believe there is a possible link between the Karachi blast and another suicide attack three days earlier on a mainly Shiite crowd at a shrine in Islamabad, which killed 19 people and injured around 100.

Police are still looking for Asif Choto, said to be a commander in the group who motivates and recruits suicide bombers.

Security officials say foreign Al-Qaeda operatives are in alliance with Pakistani Sunni groups including Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, funding their sectarian attacks in a bid to cause chaos and destablize Musharraf's government.

A Pakistani anti-terrorism court on Saturday sentenced to death a Lashkar-e-Jhangvi member on murder charges for his role in bomb attacks on Shiite mosques in Karachi in May 2004 that killed 45 people.