KARACHI - Pakistani police have arrested two Islamist militants suspected of planning a suicide bomb attack that killed a US diplomat and three others outside the US consulate in Karachi in March, an official said on Thursday. “We have got some encouraging leads from both of them. They belong to a jihadi group and were the main planners of the consulate attack,” Salahuddin Haider, a spokesman for the provincial Sindh government, told Reuters.The attack took place on March 2, the eve of a visit by President George W. Bush to Pakistan, and police at the time had said they suspected Islamist militant groups opposed to President Pervez Musharraf’s support for the US-led war on terrorism.
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The attack was well-planned, with the driver of a white Toyota Corolla packed with explosives ramming the diplomat David FoyÂ’s vehicle just metres from the US ConsulateÂ’s main entrance. The blast also wounded 52 people.
A senior police official, who asked not to be named, said investigators had found a link between the arrested militants and an al Qaeda-linked Pakistani militant group operating in the troubled tribal region of Waziristan. “We are also sharing information with the FBI,” he added.