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Police: Arrests Foil Attack On Shiites

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By SHAHID HUSAIN and JOHN M. GLIONNA, Los Angeles Times

Published: January 20, 2008

KARACHI, Pakistan - Authorities have arrested five militants and seized a cache of explosives they say were to be used to attack a religious celebration of minority Shiite Muslims.

The arrests late Friday came amid fears of sectarian violence that often flares during the holiday Ashoura, when Shiites mourn the death of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. Clashes related to the holiday killed more than 80 people in Iraq.

Also Friday, provincial officials in Pakistan's border region arrested a 15-year-old boy who reportedly told investigators that he would have been the next suicide bomber had opposition leader Benazir Bhutto survived her assassination on Dec. 27.

Information provided by the boy led to the arrest of five other suspected suicide bombers Saturday, one of them an 11-year-old boy. An official who asked not to be named said the others were not thought to have been involved in the conspiracy to kill Bhutto.

In the Karachi arrests, investigators confiscated more than 13 pounds of explosives used in suicide jackets, 4 pounds of steel ball bearings and 2 pounds of nails from a rented house in Karachi.

Also seized were several hand grenades, handguns, a detonator and a quantity of cyanide that investigators think the attackers were going to use to poison drinks of Shiite mourners at several refreshment checkpoints along the religious procession route, Police Superintendent Omar Khatab said.

The group's leader, Mohammad Aijaz, had been conducting training courses and was a teacher at a militants' camp in South Waziristan.

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