Oct. 14: The Pakistani police on Thursday claimed arresting 7 terrorists who were plotting to kill the Prime Minister, Mr Yousaf Raza Gilani, foreign minister, Mr Shah Mehmood Qureshi, and other senior military officials.
“These terrorists basically belong to the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangavi Punjab Qari Imran group and they also have links with the Taliban and al Qaeda,” the regional police officer, Mr Syed Mohammed Abid Qadri told reporters in Multan — the hometown of Mr Gilani and Mr Qureshi.
Mr Qadri said the terrorists were planning various terror activities including attacks on the Prime Minister and the foreign minister.
He said the arrested terrorists were also involved in suicide attack at the offices of the main intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), on December 8 in 2009 that killed 12 people. He said the arrested people include Tehrik-e-Taliban commander Abdur Rehman alias Talha, Mohammed Afzal, Hafiz Salman, Sajjad, Mohammed Saleem, Bilal and Mufti Munawwar Hussain.
Talha is Naib Amir (deputy chief) of Tehrik-e-Punjab and the Punjab chapter of the Lashkar-e-Jhangavi. Mr Qadri said authorities learned about the plot to kill the Prime Minister and the foreign minister during an initial interrogation of militants. The militants opened fire when the police tried to pull the suspects’ car over for a routine check, Mr Qadri said. “Nobody was wounded or killed in the shooting, but two men managed to escape,” he said. “We have averted several high-profile attacks by arresting these terrorists,” he added. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, is blamed for attacking Shia worship places across Pakistan.