Reports of 600 suicide bombers in Islamabad put Pak on red alert

Pakistan government has sounded a red alert in the wake of reports about the presence of 600 suicide bombers within the limits of national capital.

Pakistan government has sounded a red alert in the wake of reports about the presence of 600 suicide bombers within the limits of national capital. Security personnel have been asked to avoid gathering in groups and not to wear uniform in public.

The Pakistani capital is likely to suffer from more suicide bombings as around 600 suicide bombers are hiding in madrasas and mosques within and around the limits of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Daily Times quoted officials as saying.

Most of these suicide bombers were believed to be those who went missing after the crackdown on Lal Masjid and the boys and girls madrasas attached to it.

“Around 600 students of Jamia Hafsa and Jamia Fareedia have not returned to their homes after the Lal Masjid operation. These are the people called ‘missing students’ and they are hiding in madrasas and mosques in and around the two cities. These are walking bombs and are determined to blow themselves up any time, anywhere,” officials, involved in the ongoing investigation of suicide blasts, said.

According to reports, one such suicide bomber blew himself up among a group of policemen on Friday, killing 14 people, including eight policemen, and wounding over 60.

The presence of the bombers was revealed by the sacked chief cleric of Lal Masjid Abdul Aziz, who is in custody.

“During interrogation, Aziz said five to six hundred students of the two madrasas had been trained, equipped and brainwashed to carry out suicide attacks. These students left the madrasa according to a plan before the final operation against the mosque was launched,” the official said.

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Some girl students had also been trained to provide support to these bombers, the official quoted Aziz as saying.

Together the boys and girls madrasa had over 7000 students mostly children from poor families.

“During the debriefing of students from Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa, the security agencies learnt that they believed that President Pervez Musharraf and his team were kaafirs (non-believers) and agents of the US and had to be killed. The bombers are targeting army and law enforcement personnel to avenge the killings of their colleagues and Abdul Rashid Ghazi,” the official said.

“Neither the operation nor massive killings can resolve this issue. It will instead trigger an unending bloodbath throughout the country,” he quoted Aziz as saying.

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Meanwhile, Interior Ministry has warned that suicide bombers could target the civil armed forces and Punjab Constabulary to avenge the Lal Masjid operation that left more than 102 dead.