Two arrested over links to Musharraf attacks

Two Islamic militants have been arrested in Pakistan on suspicion of involvement in two recent assassination attempts against…

Two Islamic militants have been arrested in Pakistan on suspicion of involvement in two recent assassination attempts against President Pervez Musharraf.

An intelligence official identified the men as Tunisian Khalifa bin Hussain and his Pakistani host, Adnan Afridi. They were arrested on Thursday in a raid on Afridi's house in a tribal region of North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan.

Officials said security forces had also arrested two more foreign suspects, one an Afghan, after a shootout today in the same region.

The second raid was done on the basis of information gleaned from Khalifa and Afridi but it was unclear whether the second pair had any role in attempts on Musharraf's life.

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One of the two latter suspects threw a hand grenade at the security forces, wounding two paramilitary soldiers and himself, said an official, who asked not to be identified.

The intelligence official said Afridi was thought to be a member of Jaish-e-Mohammad, an outlawed militant group fighting Indian rule in the divided state of Kashmir. He said security forces seized explosives, land mines and weapons from his house.

The intelligence official said the security forces had also seized explosives, land mines and weapons from Afridi's house.