Pakistan arrests militants behind attack plots

ISLAMABAD, Oct 13 (Reuters) Pakistani security agencies have arrested eight militants suspected of planting explosive devices at three high security points in and around the capital, Islamabad, the interior minister said today.

A small, improvised explosive device went off in a park near President Pervez Musharraf's army residence in the garrison town of Rawalpindi, adjoining Islamabad, on October. 4.

The next day, police found two Russian-made 107 mm rockets hooked up to mobile phones in a patch of green across a six-lane road from parliament and the president's offices.

Two more rockets were found in undergrowth on a hill close to Pakistan's military intelligence headquarters last Saturday.

''We have arrested eight militants who were linked to these three incidents,'' Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao told Reuters.

He said arms and explosives had also been recovered from the suspects. More arrests were likely, he said.

''All those arrested are Pakistani nationals, and indications are that they may be linked to al Qaeda,'' he said.

Musharraf told a news conference this week security agencies had detained militants behind the foiled attacks, and that he might have been the target. He did not elaborate.

Musharraf survived two al Qaeda-inspired assassination attempts in 2003, both in Rawalpindi.

REUTERS SP RK1745