Pakistan arrests 2 planners in US consulate attack
KARACHI - Pakistani police have arrested two Islamist militants suspected of planning a suicide bomb attack that killed a US diplomat and three others outside the US consulate in Karachi in March, an official said on Thursday. We have got some encouraging leads from both of them. They belong to a jihadi group and were the main planners of the consulate attack, Salahuddin Haider, a spokesman for the provincial Sindh government, told Reuters.
The attack took place on March 2, the eve of a visit by President George W. Bush to Pakistan, and police at the time had said they suspected Islamist militant groups opposed to President Pervez Musharrafs support for the US-led war on terrorism.
It sure wasn't the Samoans. | Haider said he could not release the name of the suspects, but termed the arrests as a major breakthrough.
The attack was well-planned, with the driver of a white Toyota Corolla packed with explosives ramming the diplomat David Foys vehicle just metres from the US Consulates main entrance. The blast also wounded 52 people.
A senior police official, who asked not to be named, said investigators had found a link between the arrested militants and an al Qaeda-linked Pakistani militant group operating in the troubled tribal region of Waziristan. We are also sharing information with the FBI, he added.
Posted by: Steve White 2006-05-05 |