Series of raids by Pakistan police foil attacks

Nuclear-armed Pakistan is battling Taliban and al-Qaida-linked militants blamed for scores of terrorist attacks over the last two years. On Aug. 5,the campaign got a major boost when Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud was believed to have been killed in a U.S. missile strike close to the Afghan border,where the militants are strongest.

Police in Karachi seized three suicide vests,33 pounds (15 kilograms) of explosives,10 assault weapons and about 4.5 pounds (2 kilograms) of heroin during a raid Sunday,police officer Fayyaz Khan said. The teeming port city of more than 16 million has long been a hotbed for militancy.

Seven members of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi movement were arrested. The al-Qaida-linked movement is blamed for two failed assassination attempts against former President Pervez Musharraf and the beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

The Karachi cell was planning attacks on government officials,police and offices of intelligence agencies in the city,police officer Saud Mirza said. He would not be more specific about the targets,saying it could jeopardize an ongoing investigation.

Khan said the gang shipped the heroin to China,Malaysia,Singapore and United Arab Emirates,and brought the profits back to Pakistan. From there,he said,the money headed to the border with Afghanistan,which supplies 93 percent of the world’s opium,the main ingredient of heroin and one of the main sources of Taliban funding.

Part of the profits were transferred to a Taliban commander named Abdul Samad in Chaman,an area on Pakistan’s southwestern border with Afghanistan,he said.

“It is often talked about that militants do drug business to finance their needs,but this is the first time we have arrested such a gang,” Khan said.

In the eastern Pakistani city of Sargodha,police arrested six militants Monday in two raids,police chief Usman Anwar said.

He said they were linked to Mehsud’s Taliban and had planned to launch strikes next week on at least two places of worship,foreigners,politicians and minorities in the city. He said the raids had “prevented mayhem,” giving no more details.

Among the six was Zaid Mustafa,who Anwar said recruited potential suicide bombers for training in Afghanistan and who is suspected of providing logistics,explosives and other support for terror attacks in Lahore,Karachi or Rawalpindi.

“Every time the Taliban in tribal areas wanted to carry out an attack in Pakistani cities,Zaid would certainly be on board,” Anwar said.