Pakistani police arrest 5 Taliban militants

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Police in the Pakistani port city of Karachi Saturday arrested several Taliban militants including their local chief and recovered suicide jackets, explosives and weapons from their possession.The chief Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan for Punjab and Sindh provinces, Allahuddin alias Shakirullah alias Doctor was among those arrested. Additional Inspector General Police Ghulam Shabbir Sheikh said that the group was also involved in bank robberies, kidnapping for ransom and other heinous crimes committed in the city. He told a news conference that Criminal Investigation Department police arrested the alleged terror suspect from a house in Shah Latif area. During interrogation it was reveled that the accused belong to Ustad Aslam Group of local Taliban, are involved in 16 cases of terrorism including suicide attacks and target killings, he said. He added that further investigation is underway. Sheikh announced a prize of 200,000 rupees to the officials who arrested the suspects, while a recommendation of a prize money worth 3 million rupees for the officials have been forwarded to the interior ministry. Sheikh also announced that 20 more suspecss belonging to the same faction have taken refuge in different areas of interior Sindh province and that a search operation has been launched to hunt them down. He added that the law enforcement agencies in the interior Sindh have also been alerted. The suspects were involved in target killings and confessed to have killed seven people in Hyderabad, second major city in Sindh province. Police have recovered two suicide vests, 145 kgs of explosives, three Kalashnikovs and ball bearings./129