Pakistani security forces have arrested a wanted Sunni militant believed to be the head of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, an outlawed militant group thought to be linked to al-Qaeda, and mastermind of a string of suicide attacks on minority Shiite Muslims, officials were quoted as saying on the website of the Pakistani television channel Geo TV. Asif Choto, was arrested over the weekend when security officers stopped a car on a motorway between Rawalpindi and Lahore, according to a senior security official.
Choto has been accused of killing scores of Shiites in several cases. He is believed to be behind the attack on a Shiite mosque in Karachi, which left five people dead, a suicide bombing in the eastern city of Sialkot in October 2004, which killed 30 Shiites, as well as two bombings in Karachi in May 2004 which left more than 40 people dead.
According to Geo TV, Choto was planning new attacks when he was captured in Rawalpindi.
Another militant from Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Rashid alias Shahid Satti, was also arrested, according to senior police officials. |