Sunni Muslim militant leader arrested in Pakistan

LAHORE, Pakistan, Feb 5 (Reuters) The head of an outlawed Sunni Muslim militant group linked to al Qaeda has been arrested with four of his colleagues, Pakistani police said today.

The main suspect, identified as Rizwan Ahmad, is head of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi group.

Omar Virk, a senior police investigator in Lahore, said Ahmed was suspected of preparing members of his group to carry out suicide attacks in Pakistan.

''He was actually the trend-setter for suicide attacks in Lashkar-e-Jhangvi,'' he told Reuters.

Virk said Ahmed and his colleagues were arrested last week on suspicion of planning attacks during Ashura, the most important religious event of the year for Shi'ite Muslims, who are a minority in Pakistan. The week-long ritual has been marked by sectarian violence in recent years.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is blamed for most of the sectarian attacks on Shi'ites in Pakistan and was banned by President Pervez Musharraf in August 2001.

The arrested militants were also suspected of being implicated in attacks on Western targets, including murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002, and two assassination attempts on Musharraf, a key US ally in Washington's war on terrorism.

REUTERS MS PM2314