Eight terror suspects arrested in Lahore

Lahore Police have arrested eight terrorist suspects with reported links to banned Jaish-e-Muhammad and the Taliban.

Lahore, July 2 : Lahore Police have arrested eight terrorist suspects with reported links to banned Jaish-e-Muhammad and the Taliban.

According to the Daily Times, the eight men were behind the August 5, 2002 attack on a missionary school near Murree in which six Pakistanis were killed; and a grenade attack on a church in Taxila four days later in which four nurses were killed.

Lahore's Police Chief Malik Muhammad Iqbal told reporters on Sunday that the suspects were identified as Safeer Ahmed, alias Muhammad Azeem, who had a Rs.1 million bounty on his head, Safeer, Mufti Sagher Ahmed, Ghulam Qadir, Muhammad Yasir Wifaq Muhammad Siddique, Abdul Moeed, Ubaidullah Asghar and Syed Muhammad Masood.

Safeer was reportedly planning terrorist plots in Lahore. Police also seized a large quantity of arms, ammunition and bomb-making material from the suspects' hideout in Ittefaq Town.

He said the suspects had confessed they were part of the Jamiatul Furqan, a splinter group of the Jaish-e-Muhammad, which was banned in 2002. They had also confessed to the attacks in Murree and Taxila, he said.

ANI