Pakistan police arrest six militants, seize weapons
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-04-13 17:01

Pakistani police have arrested six Islamic militants in the city of Karachi and seized weapons from them, including grenades, officials said on Tuesday.

The arrests were carried out on Monday evening during a raid in a southern neighborhood of the city, Fayyaz Leghari, a deputy inspector general of police, told Reuters.

Police seized hand grenades, automatic weapons and some bomb-making material, he said.

"These six men were the newly recruited volunteers," Leghari said, adding the militants belong to the shadowy Harkat-ul Mujahideen al-Alami network, which is blamed by police for a number of high-profile terror attacks in Karachi.

These attacks include a failed assassination bid on President Pervez Musharraf, a suicide attack outside the U.S. Consulate in Karachi that killed 12 Pakistanis and a similar suicide assault killing 11 French nationals -- all in 2002.

Earlier this month, police arrested nine other al-Alami militants, including three of its top operatives, and seized a huge cache of weapons.

Al-Alami is a splinter faction of the radical Harkat-ul Mujahideen, which is fighting Indian rule in Kashmir.

But since Islamabad joined hands with the U.S.-led war on terror following the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, a major faction broke ranks with the mainstream group to target Westerners, top government officials and religious minorities in Pakistan.

Police have arrested more than 30 members of al-Alami since early 2002, but the group remains active, recruiting fresh members as well as hitting at new targets.