5 suspected bombers arrested in Pakistan

December 07, 2009|Associated Press

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Police commandos acting on a tip killed one militant and arrested five others yesterday in a raid against a bombing cell accused in recent attacks around the northwest Pakistani city of Peshawar, authorities said.

Elsewhere in the volatile region, a remote-controlled roadside bomb killed two anti-Taliban tribal elders - underscoring the difficulty Pakistan faces in cracking down on the loose and flexible network of militants threatening its stability.

Police said the commandos encountered fierce resistance when they stormed the compound in the village of Kaka Khel near Peshawar, the largest city in the area and the main gateway to the Afghan border region where many Al Qaeda and Taliban insurgents are based.

Militants have carried out a wave of deadly attacks in and around Peshawar in apparent retaliation for an army offensive in the tribal area of South Waziristan.

Three suicide jackets as well as a number of bombs, grenades, rocket-propelled grenades, and other weapons were seized from the compound, regional Police Chief Liaquat Ali Khan said.

He said one suspect was killed and five others arrested after a gun battle that lasted more than two hours. A search operation for more militants continued in the area, some 30 miles east of Peshawar.

The detained are suspected of involvement in recent bombings and other attacks not only in Peshawar but in Islamabad and its sister city of Rawalpindi, Khan said, declining to be more specific.