Pakistani police arrest five separatist bombers
LAHORE - Pakistani police have arrested five members of a separatist group on suspicion of involvement in deadly bomb blasts, a senior official said on Wednesday. The five, arrested on Tuesday, were members of the Baluch Liberation Army (BLA), a rebel group seeking a separate state in gas-rich Baluchistan province in Pakistanâs southwest.
âWe have arrested five people who have confessed to involvement in six bomb blasts in Lahore over the last two years,â said police investigator Masood Aziz. âThe mastermind is a Baluch nationalist ... Abid Bugti,â he said. Bugti was still being sought, he said. The five were also linked to a man police say is a Baluch separatist who was arrested in the southern city of Karachi last month shortly after a car-bomb blast killed three people outside the offices of state-run Pakistan Petroleum, the countryâs biggest oil and gas company. Baluch nationalists demand more control over their provinceâs natural gas and minerals, which, they say, bring few benefits to the people of Baluchistan.
Posted by: Steve 2005-12-07 |