Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

Pakistan: arrested militant an Afghan national

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Islamabad, March 31, IRNA -- Pakistan’s Interior Ministry Chief Rehman Malik said here Monday a man arrested with hand grenades during operation against militants in a police training center in the eastern city of Lahore was an Afghan national.

Malik also told a news conference that the arrested man belongs to Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika Province.

A bearded man, whose age was about 25, was arrested when he was spotted heading toward three military helicopters outside the police training center. The helicopters were brought to take aerial monitoring of the forces' operation and to shift the injured to hospitals.

The police confiscated two hand grenades and a dragger from the attacker.

He said that three other suspects, too, have been taken into custody for questioning. He also said that the attack on the police center was planned in South Waziristan tribal region, adding that militants in tribal areas receive training from across the border.

Malik said that the arrested man is being interrogated and that he would announce more details within three days. He claimed extracting important information from the suspect during the questioning.

Armed men entered a police training center at 7:30 am, threw hand grenades and opened fire at the policemen who were busy in a parade in the center, at Manawan area of Lahore, police said.

There had been conflicting reports about the casualties of the incidnence. Police chief in Lahore said that eight policemen were killed while the army spokesman Athar Abbas has been quoted as saying that 27 policemen were killed.

Malik said that three militants blew themselves up while four others were shot dead by the security forces during the 8-hour operation.

He said that the government is considering a ban on temporary rent of houses across the country, saying that militants temporarily hire houses.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the fatal attack.

The security forces secured the training center after almost eight hour operation after the militants blew themselves up.

The government has decided to shift the training center from the building to another place and the police were seen shifting their luggage.