Pakistani police arrested nine suspected Islamic militants, including a man who allegedly sent suicide bombers to carry out a deadly attack on the U.S. Consulate in Karachi almost two years ago. The suspects — all members of the outlawed militant group Harkat-ul-Mujahedeen al-Almi — were captured Sunday in Karachi, police chief Kamal Shah said. "According to initial investigations, one of the terrorists who is in our custody had motivated suicide bombers to attack the U.S. Consulate and a bus outside the Sheraton Hotel in Karachi in 2002," he said. On May 8, 2002, a suicide bomber attacked a bus carrying foreigners outside the hotel, killing 14 people, including 11 French engineers. In June 2002, a suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden vehicle outside the U.S. Consulate, killing 12. Several people already have been arrested and convicted in connection with those attacks. The arrested man linked to the two bombings is Sohail Akhtar, a Pakistani, Shah said. Akhtar had confessed to the crimes and to being a member of Harakat-ul Mujahedeen al-Almi, Shah said. "With their arrest, a message has gone to terrorists that they cannot escape the law for long," he said.
| "Well, a coupla years, maybe. At a corpse a month, that's only about two dozen deaders. We'll get 'em eventually, though." |
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