| Pakistan’s paramilitary rangers said on Saturday they had foiled a major attack bid in the restive port city of Karachi, recovering a huge cache of weapons but making no arrests. The weapons seized in a raid on Friday at a house under construction included a Russian-made mortar, shells and rockets. "This is the first time ever we seized a 82 mm mortar gun in Karachi," senior ranger officer Colonel Zafar Iqbal Awan told a news conference. Officials said the mortar could hit a target at a distance of five km (three miles). Karachi has seen a spate of assaults, including suicide bombings, targeting Westerners, government officials and the religious minorities in the last couple of years. Police blame most of these attacks on Islamic extremists furious at the government’s support for the U.S.-led "war on terror" following the September 11, 2001 attacks. Awan said, however, that it was too early to blame any group for bringing the weapons to Karachi. |