Pakistan has busted an Al-Qaeda-linked plot to kill civil and military officials and attack key sites including the US embassy and the military headquarters, officials said yesterday.
The government said intelligence agencies had arrested around a dozen local and foreign militants who plotted attacks that were to begin August 13.
"Their plan was to carry out physical assaults on important civil and military dignitaries using sophisticated weapons and hand grenades," Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat said early yesterday.
Hayat said their targets included the legislature, military headquarters, the prime minister's house, the presidency, the US embassy and the residence of President Pervez Musharraf.
He said the arrests were made between August 11 and 15 and the plot had been masterminded by Egyptian Al-Qaeda suspect Sheikh Esa, alias Qari Ismail. Security officials did not confirm whether the Egyptian was arrested.
The arrests marked the latest success in a crackdown launched by Pakistani security agencies in July. More than 60 suspects, among them some key Al-Qaeda operatives, have been arrested.
"It is a big achievement of Pakistani intelligence agencies, which carried out daring raids at serious personal risks to foil the sinister plan," said Brigadier Javed Cheema.
Information Minister Sheikh Rashid told reporters on Saturday that the conspiracy could have killed hundreds of people.
"These people were planning to carry out destructive and bloody terrorist attacks during a week-long time starting from August 13," he said.
Rashid said a huge cache of arms and ammunition recovered from the suspects included bombs, grenades, rockets, rocket launchers, detonators and around 50 explosive devices.
"We are looking for three or four more suspects in connection with the plot," he said.
The interior minister said the leader of Islamabad's Lal Mosque, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, was the main coordinator in the planning. It was not clear whether Ghazi was among those arrested.
Ghazi was already wanted in connection with a religious edict he and some clerics had issued a few months ago against military operations in the tribal region near the Afghan border against Al-Qaeda linked fugitives.
"Ghazi was the main communicator between the Egyptian Al-Qaeda operative and other men involved in the plot," he said.
In mid-July, Pakistani intelligence arrested Al-Qaeda's Pakistani computer expert, Naeem Noor Khan, in Lahore. Two weeks later Tanzanian Ahmad Khalfan Ghailani, indicted in the 1998 bombings of US embassies in East Africa, was also captured.
Information gleaned from the key operatives led to disclosure of plots to launch attacks in Pakistan, the US and Britain.
Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz, who is to be sworn in as prime minister next week, survived an Al-Qaeda-linked assassination attempt on July 30. Nine people were killed in the suicide attack.
BOMBARDMENT: Moscow sent more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in ‘one of the most terrifying strikes’ on the capital in recent months A nighttime Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed at least 15 people and injured 116 while they slept in their homes, local officials said yesterday, with the main barrage centering on the capital, Kyiv. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people were killed and 99 were injured as explosions echoed across the city for hours during the night. The bombardment demolished a nine-story residential building, destroying dozens of apartments. Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble. Russia flung more than 440 drones and 32 missiles at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
‘SHORTSIGHTED’: Using aid as leverage is punitive, would not be regarded well among Pacific Island nations and would further open the door for China, an academic said New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands, it said yesterday, as the relationship between the two constitutionally linked countries continues to deteriorate amid the island group’s deepening ties with China. A spokesperson for New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand early this month decided to suspend payment of NZ$18.2 million (US$11 million) in core sector support funding for this year and next year as it “relies on a high trust bilateral relationship.” New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific
Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki yesterday erupted again with giant ash and smoke plumes after forcing evacuations of villages and flight cancelations, including to and from the resort island of Bali. Several eruptions sent ash up to 5km into the sky on Tuesday evening to yesterday afternoon. An eruption on Tuesday afternoon sent thick, gray clouds 10km into the sky that expanded into a mushroom-shaped ash cloud visible as much as 150km kilometers away. The eruption alert was raised on Tuesday to the highest level and the danger zone where people are recommended to leave was expanded to 8km from the crater. Officers also
ESPIONAGE: The British government’s decision on the proposed embassy hinges on the security of underground data cables, a former diplomat has said A US intervention over China’s proposed new embassy in London has thrown a potential resolution “up in the air,” campaigners have said, amid concerns over the site’s proximity to a sensitive hub of critical communication cables. The furor over a new “super-embassy” on the edge of London’s financial district was reignited last week when the White House said it was “deeply concerned” over potential Chinese access to “the sensitive communications of one of our closest allies.” The Dutch parliament has also raised concerns about Beijing’s ideal location of Royal Mint Court, on the edge of the City of London, which has so
RSS