Pakistani forces detain nearly 100 militants in Karachi: Military
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A file photo by Reuters shows Pakistani policemen guarding the central jail in Hyderabad, 160 km (100 miles) from Karachi.
Nearly 100 people have been arrested in Pakistan on suspicion of having ties to al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups and planning terror attacks across the Asian country, a military spokesman says.
As many as 97 terrorists, including three militant commanders, were detained after counter-terrorism forces raided their hideouts during a series of recent raids across Karachi, Lt. Gen. Asim Bajwa said in Islamabad Friday.
The detained militants had been involved in subversive activities, including multiple major attacks on air bases, a major airport and police installations, he said.
Bajwa also said that several of those arrested were in the advanced stages of planning a raid on the central jail in Hyderabad in order to facilitate a jailbreak. The militants intended to have Khalid Omar Sheikh, a top militant commander held at that prison, released.
Sheikh is a British terrorist of Pakistani descent with links to various terrorist groups. He is best known for his role in the 2002 kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. Sheikh was originally recruited by British intelligence agency MI6 while studying at the London School of Economics.
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