Friday, May 6, 2005
Pakistan foils new Al-Qaeda plot to kill Musharraf
Agence France-Presse
Islamabad, May 6, 2005
Pakistani intelligence agents have foiled a new plot by Al-Qaeda militants to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf, security officials said.
Seven conspirators were arrested in a number of raids in central Punjab province in late April, one week before the capture of Al-Qaeda alleged number three Abu Faraj al-Libbi in a northwestern region, security officials said.
The group included Mushtaq Ahmed, a junior Air Force official who escaped from jail late last year after being sentenced to death for his involvement in a 2003 attempt to eliminate Musharraf, and who was recaptured last week.
"First we smashed the gang plotting a new attack on Musharraf and then a week later we netted two Arabs including al-Libbi," a top intelligence official said.
Officials said the Musharraf assassination plotters were headed by an Al-Qaeda militant named Mohammad Arshad, who is an associate of al-Libbi.
"The group was planning a new attack on President Musharraf in Rawalpindi or Islamabad. They had assembled the explosive devices and they were to use them adopting a new method," the intelligence official said.
He did not specify exactly how or when they planned to carry out the assassination attempt.
"Mushtaq Ahmed was an important part of the group and we understand that the group's leader was in contact with al-Libbi," the official added.
"On their information explosives and all those things that they were to use in the attempt were recovered."
© HT Media Ltd. 2004.