Pak blast: Cops detain 12

Pakistan police hunting for an unidentified assailant who lobbed a grenade at a bus full of foreign tourists detained about a dozen suspects...

Pakistan police hunting for an unidentified assailant who lobbed a grenade at a bus full of foreign tourists detained about a dozen suspects, police said on Sunday.

8216;8216;We have detained 10-to-12 suspected people from the surrounding areas during our day-long hunt,8217;8217; Chaudhry Sadiq Hussain, the Station House Officer of the City Police Station in Mansehra town said.

Police said an assailant hurled a home-made explosive device at the tourists visiting Ashoka sites, relics of an ancient Hindu civilisation near Mansehra in the northwestern Frontier Province NWFP. They were on their way to the country8217;s scenic northern areas when the assault took place.

Among those injured were seven Germans, an Austrian, a Slovenian, as well as three Pakistanis. Police combed nearby woods and surrounding hills to search for the suspect, who fled without being noticed after the incident, Hussain said.

The injured tourists were treated at the scene and then taken to a hotel in Rawalpindi, near the capital Islamabad. They were visiting Ashoka sites near Mansehra, about 280 km from Peshawar.

8216;8216;Though we have detained around a dozen suspects for interrogations but I would say no satisfactory clue has been found which could lead us to the accused,8217;8217; Hussain said. Asked whether any Afghan refugee had been arrested from the nearby refugee tent village, Hussain said 8216;8216;No8217;8217;.

Pakistani police are known for detaining large numbers of people after such incidents but most are released after preliminary questioning.

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Earlier, another police official said the provincial police chief also visited the scene and met with senior officers to ensure the arrest of the accused.

Another official said in Peshawar on Sunday that police want to question a tour guide in connection with the incident.

The guide disappeared from the site soon after the blast, which authorities said may have been caused by a grenade thrown at the tourists, Rao Amin Hashim, Deputy Inspector General of Abbattabad district, said. Police are investigating whether religious extremists were responsible for the incident.

Hashim said officials are still uncertain what caused the blast, but a government-run news agency quoted a senior Interior Ministry official as saying it might have been caused by a crude explosive device thrown at the tourists.

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Many countries have advised their nationals to avoid travelling to Pakistan since then. Islamabad has been helping the US in hunting fugitive Taliban and Al Qaeda militants who may have crossed into neighbouring Pakistan to escape Afghanistan. That cooperation has drawn the ire of militant Islamic groups. Reuters