ISLAMABAD: Pakistani authorities on Saturday found two rockets aimed at the headquarters of the country's elite intelligence agency, two days after rockets were defused near President Pervez Musharraf's official residence, a senior security official said.
"The rockets were aimed at the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) headquarters" which is located on a main road in the capital Islamabad, the official said on condition of anonymity. "We have defused the rockets. The rockets were Russian-made, similar to the ones found and defused on Thursday near the parliament building," he said.
| How fortunate for the ISI! |
The official said a mobile phone and a battery was attached to the rockets which were fixed on launchers. "Someone was to ring at the mobile and trigger the explosion," he said.
| Seems like someone needs to go to Afghanistan and get some training in the proper use of a cell phone trigger. |
The official dismissed an earlier police report that the rockets, found on the city's Shakarparian hills overlooking the ISI headquarters, were dummies deployed in a mock exercise carried out to check security preparations. The capital's police chief, Chaudhry Iftikhar, later said that the confusion arose because of a misunderstanding between security departments.
Saturday's incident followed two earlier security scares. On Thursday two rockets fixed to launchers and hidden in bushes were found at a construction site opposite the president's official residence. A mobile phone was linked by wires to both launchers, apparently as a remote triggering device.
Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said the rockets were not aimed at a specific target, adding the incident appears to be aimed at creating chaos and confusion in the capital and harassing the general public.
Musharraf arrived by helicopter at an Islamabad conference hall on Thursday to give a speech -- shortly after three heavily guarded but empty motorcades had driven up apparently as decoys. |