ISLAMABAD - Pakistani police said Monday they had arrested four members of a Sunni militant group in connection with the murder of a rival Shia leader that sparked deadly riots in a Himalayan town. The four belonging to the Sunni Muslim Lashkar-e-Jhangvi group were picked up during a raid in Rawalpindi, near the capital Islamabad, and grenades and weapons were also seized, city police chief Saud Aziz told AFP.Aziz said the men were wanted for the sectarian murder in January of prominent Shia leader Agha Ziauddin in the remote northern mountain town of Gilgit. The killing touched off violent clashes that left 17 people dead and put Gilgit under curfew for months. Aziz said the suspects were plotting to attack a Shia event last week âbut it failed because of tight securityâ.
Aziz identified the suspects as Shah Raees, Ijaz Wali, Aurangzeb and Amir Abbasi. Three are from Gilgit and one is from Islamabad, Aziz said, adding that police also recovered 160,000 rupees (3,000 dollars) from Aurangzeb.