Posted on 06/24/2002 5:34:03 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Jun 24, 2002 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- Pakistani authorities working with the FBI detained 45 Muslim militants for questioning in the deadly June 14 car bombing outside the U.S. Consulate in Karachi and the May attack outside a five-star hotel that killed 11 French engineers, officials said Monday.
The men detained late Sunday have not been charged in either attack. However, authorities said they may have information that could lead to the perpetrators.
An official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the men, arrested in the eastern city of Lahore, belong to two banned Sunni Muslim groups - Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Sipah-e-Sahaba.
Both groups have traditionally targeted the country's Shiite Muslim minority and have not been identified with attacks against foreigners. However, police have speculated they may be working with al-Qaida-affiliated groups to take revenge on Westerners and the Pakistani government for the overthrow of the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan.
The detentions were based on information from some of the 28 men - including several Arabs - rounded up last week as part of the crackdown against Islamic extremists and al-Qaida members believed hiding in Pakistan, the official said.
On Sunday, Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider said police had identified the groups responsible for the U.S. consulate attack and said the government will name them publicly soon.
Haider described the investigation into the consulate blast as "30 to 40 percent" complete and said the attackers were apparently linked to the hotel bombers.
Pakistani investigators said some members of Jaish-e-Mohammed, an al-Qaida affiliated group that has been fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi rented several houses this year for Arab militants, including Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant, Abu Zubaydah.
Zubaydah was arrested in a joint U.S.-Pakistan operation on March 28 from the city of Faisalabad.
Religious violence has increased since Musharraf joined the U.S.-led war against terrorism in September.
Besides the Karachi bombs, an unidentified person hurled grenades into a Protestant church in Islamabad on March 17, killing four worshippers. The attacker also died as a grenade exploded in his hands.
The Wall Street Journal's South Asia correspondent, Daniel Pearl, 38, was kidnapped in January and killed. Four men are on trial for the kidnap-slay and police are seeking seven more who they say also may have connections with the Karachi bombings.
By MUNIR AHMAD Associated Press Writer
Copyright 2002 Associated Press, All rights reserved
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