Police arrest 7 LeJ terrorists involved in ISI attack - foil plot to kill PM

[pkpatriotic]

Pakistan arrests 7 militants, foil plot to kill PM

Oct 14 2010 - 13:46 hrs

MULTAN, Pakistan – Pakistani police said Thursday they have foiled a plot to kill the country's prime minister, foreign minister and other senior police, army and government officials by arresting a group of seven militants in central Pakistan.

Senior police official Abid Qadri said authorities learned about the plot during an initial interrogation of militants, who were arrested late Wednesday after a shootout near a village in central Pakistan.

The militants opened fire when police tried to pull the suspects' car over for a routine check, 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 told The Associated Press.

The men are all part of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which is a banned Sunni Muslim militant group linked to both the Taliban and al-Qaida, Qadri said. The group has been blamed for attacking minority Shiite worship places and killing Shiites across Pakistan.

Some of the suspects arrested Wednesday are believed to have taken part in last year's attack on the main Pakistani spy agency in the central city of Multan that killed 12 people, Qadri said.

He did not say how far along the men were in their alleged plot to kill Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and the others.

Qadri said the suspects also had plans to attack a key dam, a bridge and military installations.

 

[JamesBond]

Silly terrorists, had they said they wanted to kill the President Zardari, they would have been released!

 

[Spring Onion]

Oh Gosh good the police has become competent alot.

Why would they like to kill the PM who is not a wanted man neither a big problem

 

[Patriot]

Good Work - Credit should be given where it's due Jana.After all there are great people in police too! Remember Sifwat Ghayyur.

 

[GUNNER]

Good catch. I hope it helps in breaking the network of Punjabi Talibans in the South. One of the arrested people is alleged to be the Deputy Head of the TTP's Punjab chapter.

Infact, Peshawar Police also had a good field day. They recovered a kidnapped physician, Dr Intikhab Alam, after a shoot-out with the kidnappers.

 

[pkpatriotic]

Oh Gosh good the police has become competent alot.

Why would they like to kill the PM who is not a wanted man neither a big problem

that's a main reason that he is not a problem and look a like ex-chief minister punjab G.H Wine (bechara), some one want to get benefit of public favor after such killing, for a while, who is proud by having strong relations with friends(as pronounced) "jail key Sathi"

 

[Irfan Baloch]

Good catch. I hope it helps in breaking the network of Punjabi Talibans in the South. One of the arrested people is alleged to be the Deputy Head of the TTP's Punjab chapter.

Infact, Peshawar Police also had a good field day. They recovered a kidnapped physician, Dr Intikhab Alam, after a shoot-out with the kidnappers.

I just pray that the court doesnt free them based on "inconclusive evidence". by the way they are not millitants they are terrorists
the heading should be changed.

 

[BanglaBhoot]

Pakistani police say they have disrupted a plot to assassinate the prime minister and other top officials after engaging in a shootout with Islamist militants on Wednesday.

Seven men accused of being part of the al Qaeda-linked militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi have been arrested. Pakistani officials say the men were planning to storm Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's home in Multan in a gun-and-suicide-bomb attack.

Authorities stumbled upon the plot during a routine check of vehicles near Bahawalpur. The men started firing after police tried to stop their car.

"The investigation uncovered a plot to hit VIPs in Pakistan. The main target was the prime minister," a Pakistani official said on condition of anonymity in order to freely discuss details of the case.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi also was on the terrorists' hit list. Multan is the hometown of both Mr. Gilani and Mr. Qureshi.

The Pakistani official said the militants had been tracking Mr. Gilani's movements and his private residence in Multan. The prime minister's movements are a closely guarded secret, and he travels under heavy security.

The arrested men also were involved in a robbery, and police recovered arms and ammunition from them.

The next court hearing for the seven men has been set for Oct. 27.

The State Department designated Lashkar-e-Jhangvi as a foreign terrorist group in 2003.

A militant offshoot of the Sunni Deobandi sectarian group Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has been focused primarily on attacking Pakistan's minority Shias. After it was banned by the Pakistani government in 2001, many of the group's members took refuge with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

"This terrorist group has been focused primarily on attacks in the region, but you can never rule out the possibility that they might look to do bad things elsewhere," a U.S. counterterrorism official said on condition of anonymity.

The Pakistani official said the group's members are not allowed to function or maintain any accounts within Pakistan. "Pakistan's government is fully committed and determined to go after militants. This is the first time that this commitment is supported by political will," the official said.

Mr. Qureshi, the foreign minister, will lead a delegation at a U.S.-Pakistani strategic dialogue in Washington next week. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will lead the U.S. side.

One of the items on the agenda will be a review of progress made by Pakistan in the fight against terrorists.

U.S. officials and analysts say Pakistan's historic ties to militant groups have complicated the effort to root out terrorists and that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency still maintains ties to some militant groups.

"It's no secret that Pakistan has had historical ties to certain militant groups. That's created complexities, and everyone's eyes are wide open to them," a second U.S. official said on condition of anonymity.

Stephen Tankel, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said there is no "single relationship" between elements within the ISI and the militants.

"Relations exist on a spectrum. At one end are those considered to be enemies of the state [the Pakistani Taliban], which must be eliminated. At the other are those like [the anti-India group Lashkar-e-Taiba] that are viewed as maintaining utility against India and posing lower immediate costs because they don't actively attack the Pakistani state," Mr. Tankel said.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is active primarily in Punjab province and in the Pakistani port city of Karachi.

Pakistani and U.S. officials say Lashkar-e-Jhangvi members were involved in the abduction and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan in 2002.

Pakistani leaders also have been the target of terrorists for several years.

In 1999, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi tried to assassinate former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shabaz, who was chief minister of Punjab province.

In 2003, then-President Pervez Musharraf narrowly escaped two assassination attempts within days in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.

Terrorists claimed a prominent target four years later when they killed former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto as she was leaving a political rally in Rawalpindi in December 2007. The government of Pakistan blamed Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud for masterminding that attack.

Plot to assassinate Pakistani prime minister foiled - Washington Times

 

[sparklingway]

One of the LeJ terrorists holds a doctorate. So much for the pathetic and irrational argument of illiteracy=terrorism that usually emanates from the mouths and keyboards of right wing apologists and sympathizers.

 

[BATMAN]

Perhaps their masters helped in their capture.
Sounds more like tip off.

 

[SpArK]

Pakistan: Plot to Kill Prime Minister​

By REUTERS
Published: October 14, 2010

The Pakistani police arrested a group accused of plotting to kill the prime minister and several senior government figures, security officials said Thursday. The seven suspects who were arrested on Wednesday night after a shootout near the eastern city of Bahawalpur belong to the Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. “They had plans to blow up an explosive-laden vehicle near the house of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in Multan when he was visiting there,” said a security official in Bahawalpur, referring to the ancestral residence of Mr. Gilani in a nearby city in Punjab Province. The police said in a statement that the militants had plotted to kill Mr. Gilani, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and other senior officials.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/15/world/asia/15briefs-Pakistan.html?_r=1

The Associated Press: Pakistan arrests 7 militants, foil plot to kill PM

DAWN.COM | Front Page | Seven militants held for planning attacks on PM

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

mehhhh...no big deal. This isn't the first time either.

mugs put a high impact round in his S500 Benz over a year ago, everybody forgot after the smoke cleared

they come, and they go.


at least he has protection which the common man doesnt