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Pakistan says arrests 10 militants ahead of election

KARACHI
Fri Feb 15, 2008 5:20am EST
A man eats food next to election posters on a street in Karachi February 14, 2008. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf issued a warning to opposition parties to accept the result of Monday's election and not resort to agitation if it goes against them, while guaranteeing it will be free and fair. REUTERS/Athar Hussain

KARACHI (Reuters) - Pakistani police have arrested 10 Islamic militants in its biggest city, Karachi, who are suspected of planning terror attacks during next week's general election, a government minister said on Friday.

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"These militants were ex-members of different banned militant outfits who had now formed a new group," Sindh Home Minister Akhtar Zamin told Reuters. He did not say when the men were detained.

Karachi, Pakistan's commercial epicenter, is the capital of Sindh.

Zamin said police seized explosives, electrical circuits, compact discs and other material from the militants.

"They may have been planning to attack some political leader, or carry out other acts of terror during the election, and to destabilize the peace of the country," he said.

Pakistan is scheduled to hold a general election on Monday, with many fearful of militant violence after a spate of attacks in recent months.

The election, originally scheduled to be held on January 8, was postponed until February 18 following the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto on December 27 in a gun and bomb suicide attack.

(Reporting by Imtiaz Shah; Writing by Faisal Aziz. Editing by Simon Gardner)
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