Police raided a hideout of an Islamic militant group before dawn Monday in southern Pakistan, triggering a shootout that ended with the arrest of six people, police officials said. No one was injured. Police said the six suspects were members of Harkat-ul-Mujahedeen al-Almi, an outlawed group accused of killing foreigners and minority Christians since President Pervez Musharraf made Pakistan an ally of the United States in its war on terror. It was not immediately clear what prompted the raid, although police said the arrests were made on a "secret information" that some terrorists were hiding in a house in the congested area of Malir.
| Maybe they staged the raid because they wanted to take Bad Guys off the streets? |
Some weapons were seized, police officials said. Karachi, Pakistan’s biggest city with a population of 15 million, has been the scene of several terrorist attacks in recent years, mostly blamed on the Harkat group. The latest arrests came days after city police said they had arrested Kamran, also known as Atif, a leader of the Harkat group who allegedly planned a car bomb attack outside the U.S. Consulate in Karachi two years ago that killed 12 people, all Pakistanis. Kamran is also being questioned in connection with an assassination attempt against Musharraf in Karachi two years ago. Police say they have arrested almost all top leaders of the group. |