Faisal Saleh Hayat, the Pakistani interior minister, said authorities had arrested the Pakistani point man for the group and also eight Uzbek militants in a previously unheard-of terrorist group, Jundullah. Sheik Ahmed, the information minister, said eight to nine other members were at large. Mr. Hayat said the group’s leader is named Attaullah. He said Uzbek militants trained all members of the group in the tribal Shakai area near Afghanistan, where the army offensive is under way. "Shakai had become a base for Al Qaeda, and it was used as training and a transit camp by Al Qaeda," Mr. Hayat said. "It has been established beyond doubt that these terrorists were trained in the Shakai area of Wana and they had very strong linkages in that area."
| That could be because nobody's bothered them for the past few years... |
The officials said Mr. Aroochi had no ties to the group and was arrested on separate terrorist charges. Mr. Hayat said eight members of the group who were arrested confessed involvement in a long list of crimes, starting with the attempted assassination of a Pakistani general on Thursday.He said the group was involved in the May 26 double car bombing outside a school near the American consul general’s residence, in the suicide bombings of two Shiite mosques in May, in a bombing attempt outside the American Consulate on March 15, and in a blast outside the Avari Hotel in Karachi on Jan. 15. |