Terror plot unearthed in Pakistan

Rehman Malik, adviser to the prime minister on interior affairs, told reporters that six people, including three suicide bombers and three handlers, were arrested following a tip-off from intelligence agencies. The successful operation had averted large-scale terrorist attacks, he said.

The explosives were defused shortly after the vehicles were impounded and the arrested men were taken to an undisclosed location for interrogation. The security was also tightened further in the national capital.

Malik said the preliminary interrogation of the arrested men indicated that the suicide bombers wanted to target “installations of national importance”.

Security officials were quoted by TV channels as saying that the men had planned to target key installations and high-value targets, including possibly President Pervez Musharraf’s camp office in Rawalpindi.

The arrests were made four days after a suicide bomber blew up his explosive-laden car outside the Danish Embassy in Islamabad.

The arrests were made four days after a suicide bomber blew up his explosive-laden car outside the Danish embassy in Islamabad, killing eight persons and injuring over 20.

An Internet posting on Thursday, purportedly from Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, claimed responsibility for Monday’s bombing outside the Danish Embassy in Islamabad that killed six people, including one Dane.

Police and intelligence agents late on Thursday arrested about six suspects, including three suicide bombers, in Rawalpindi, about seven miles from Islamabad.

Authorities tightened security near the presidential palace, parliament and key government offices.

Musharraf warns of leadeship crisis

•ISLAMABAD: President Pervez Musharraf has warned against the risks of mismanagement for a country lacking sound leaders, amid speculation he could step down and leave the new civilian leadership to run Pakistan. Addressing military officers late on Thursday, Musharraf spoke in broad terms, though previously he has made clear his disdain for civilian political leaders. “Mismanagement and lack of potential in the leadership will lead to a weakening of the country,” he said.

PPP denies author’s claims

•ISLAMABAD: The ruling PPP on Friday condemned as “despicable” the claim by an Indian author that its late party chairperson Benazir Bhutto had confided to him that she participated in the nuclear black market. London-based Indian journalist Shyam Bhatia has written in his book Goodbye Shahzadi that former premier Bhutto, who was assassinated in December last year, had told him that she smuggled CDs with critical data on making nuclear weapons to help facilitate a missile deal with North Korea.