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Suspects arrested in Pakistan in wake of mosque bombing

Pakistan has arrested several suspects in connection with the suicide attack on a mosque that killed 56 people, security officials said yesterday.

"We have made important progress in the investigation and we hope to hunt down the culprits," said one of the officials, who declined to be named.

He said the bomber was believed to be from the district of Charsadda, the northwest town where the attack took place on Friday in a mosque packed with worshippers marking the Islamic holiday of Id al-Adha.

"There has been some progress in identifying the bomber," he said. Police earlier said the attacker's severed legs had been discovered and would be given DNA tests.

BALL BEARINGS

Earlier, a doctor at the main hospital in Charsadda said the suicide bomber had packed his explosives vest with ball-bearings to inflict maximum casualties and that many victims had bled to death from shrapnel wounds.

More than 120 people were wounded.

The target of the attack was Aftab Sherpao, a former interior minister who oversaw a crackdown on Islamic militants.

He escaped unhurt but his son was wounded and was reported to be in hospital in stable condition.

LINKS

The attack came in North West Frontier Province, a rugged area along the border with Afghanistan.

Police picked up a suspect in Charsadda, security officials said.

"We're looking for another man who could be a second accomplice," said a security official, who asked not to be named.

Local residents and TV said four people, including three Afghan nationals, were arrested late on Friday in a town 4km from the site of the attack.

It was unclear if the detentions were related to the mosque attack.

Provincial police chief Sharif Virk and intelligence officials said the attack could be linked to militant groups in the adjacent Mohmand tribal region, a lawless area that straddles the border with Afghanistan.

REFUGE

Many al-Qaeda and Taliban members took refuge in remote regions on the Pakistani side of the Afghan border after US and Afghan opposition forces toppled the Taliban government in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the US.

"We suspect that it could be orchestrated in Mohmand tribal agency, from where we suspect the previous attack on Sherpao was planned," the security official said.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Friday that al-Qaeda had regrouped in Pakistan's remote Afghan border area and begun to focus attacks on the Pakistani government and military.

Friday's bombing was one of the worst suicide attacks in Pakistan's troubled history.

It was condemned by the UN and the US, which counts Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf as a pivotal ally in its "war on terror."

The carnage has raised fears of more bloodshed in the run-up to the Jan. 8 parliamentary elections - -- which are already under intense international scrutiny after allegations that Musharraf's allies will try to rig the ballot.
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