Security forces have arrested the chief of an al Qaeda-linked extremist group who allegedly masterminded a string of deadly suicide attacks on Shias, officials said on Wednesday.
Asif Choto, head of the outlawed Lashkar-i-Jhangvi organisation, was seized over the weekend when agents stopped a bus on a motorway exit in Rawalpindi, a senior security official told AFP.
"He is the most wanted sectarian militant in Pakistan," the official on the condition of anonymity said. "This is one of the biggest achievements towards neutralising religious terrorism in this country." Several other senior officials also confirmed the arrest.
After his arrest, Choto, 28, led security forces to a house in Rawalpindi where they found another key Lashkar-i-Jhangvi militant named Rashid, alias Shahid Satti, a senior police official said.
"These are prized catches and should break the back of Lashkar-i-Jhangvi in Pakistan," the official said.
Security officials say foreign al Qaeda operatives are allied with Pakistani groups, including Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, funding their sectarian attacks in a bid to destabilise President Pervez Musharraf's government.
Choto - a nickname which means small in Urdu and reflects his 5 ft 5 inches height, according to officials - is regarded by the authorities as the man who introduced suicide bombing as a Lashkar-i-Jhangvi tactic.
He has been accused of planning the May 30 attack on a Shia mosque in Karachi which left five people dead. A letter purportedly written by him was found on one of the attackers who was injured.
Officials said Choto also plotted a suicide blast during an annual festival at a crowded shrine in Islamabad on May 27, which left 19 Shia pilgrims dead.
He has additionally been linked to a suicide bombing in Sialkot in October 2004 which killed 30 Shias, as well as two bombings in Karachi in May 2004 that left more than 40 people dead.
The extremist was also behind a plan to groom two sisters as suicide bombers, officials said. The women were arrested earlier this year.
"Choto is specialised in organising and motivating suicide bombers. He was very dangerous," another security official said.
Lashkar-i-Jhangvi has also been blamed for the murder of US reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002 and for two attempts to assassinate General Musharraf, although Choto is not thought to be linked to those incidents.
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