Police said on Tuesday they have detained a gang of terrorists trained in Afghanistan and suspected of involvement in sectarian violence.
Police had "succeeded in tracing major cases of sectarian terrorism" which took place in the Balochistan province during the past five years, city police chief Pervaiz Rafi Bhatti said.
"We have arrested 10 most wanted men accused of involvement in sectarian killings" in recent weeks, Bhatti told reporters late on Monday.
The detainees included the "mastermind" Daud Badani and his accomplices who belonged to the outlawed group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ), he said.
Badani had told investigators he along with some colleagues went to Afghanistan where he met with LJ founder Riaz Basra who offered them training in subversive activities, Bhatti said.
Badani told police Basra gave him money to buy a motorbike for terrorist activities and he had sold his own oil tanker to purchase arms and ammunition for his group's activities.
Badani "confessed" he had planned major deadly attacks including a suicide bombing on a Shia mosque in Quetta on July 4, 2003, a suicide attack on Shia Ashura procession in March last year and firing on police recruits.
These incidents left about 110 people dead and more than 250 injured, the officer said.
"The arrest of Badani's gang would help smash the network of sectarian terrorists in the province."