Red alert in Islamabad and Rawalpindi

Islamabad, Jan 3: A red alert has been sounded in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi following intelligence inputs that seven suicide bombers have entered the cities.

The suicide bombers may target important people and places. The Administration has directed stepping up of security at all the important places in the twin cities, The News reported. Sensitive places are also being monitored. Meanwhile, slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) has claimed that thousands of its party workers have been detained and charged for rioting and arson that took place in the wake of Bhutto's assassination.

Though the PPP has not taken out any protests on roads following the Government's decision to postpone the polls to February 18, the party has voiced its opposition along with Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and several other opposition parties.

On Wednesday, President Pervez Musharraf had warned of strict action against those involved in rioting and had directed the caretaker Prime Minister Mohammedmian Soomro to appoint a commission to book people responsible for ransacking and violence in country, especially in Sindh, which happens to be Bhutto's home province.

He had alleged that he could see a 'communal and political overtone in all the violent incidents' and warned that the action would be taken on a war footing.

ANI