Pakistan arrests suspect in mosque attack
PESHAWAR, Pakistan, (Reuters)
Authorities have arrested one man over a suicide attack at a mosque
in northwest Pakistan that killed 48 people, and said they suspect
Islamic militants in an Afghan border region were involved.
Police picked up the suspect in Charsadda, security officials said,
the same district where a suicide bomber detonated 8-10 kg (18 to 22
lbs) of explosives on Friday in the midst of a packed 1,000-strong
congregation celebrating the festival of Eid.
"We're looking for another man who could be a second accomplice," a
security official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.
Local residents and television said four people, including three
Afghan nationals, were arrested late Friday in a town four km (2.5
miles) from the site of the attack near Peshawar, capital of North West
Frontier Province.
It was unclear if the detentions were related to the blast.
Former interior minister, Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, who is a leading
supporter of President Pervez Musharraf, was offering Eid prayers at the
mosque at the time of the blast. He survived unhurt but at least 80
people were wounded.
Police believe Sherpao, who survived another suicide attack in April,
was the likely target.
Provincial police chief Sharif Virk and intelligence officials told
Reuters the attack could be linked to militant groups in the adjacent
Mohmand tribal region, a lawless area that straddles the border with
Afghanistan.
Many al Qaeda and Taliban members took refuge in remote regions on
the Pakistani side of the Afghan border after U.S. and Afghan opposition
forces toppled the Taliban government in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11
attacks on the United States.
"We suspect that it could be orchestrated in Mohmand tribal agency,
from where we suspect the previous attack on Sherpao was planned," the
security official said.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Friday that al Qaeda has
regrouped in Pakistan's remote Afghan border area and begun to focus
attacks on the Pakistani government and military,
Virk said that so far forensic evidence at the site of the blast was
insufficient to give up any strong leads.
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