Pakistan arrests 97 al Qaeda and other militants; foils planned jailbreak

Islamabad: Pakistan has arrested 97 al Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militants, including three commanders, in the southern port city of Karachi, and foiled a planned attack that would have broken Daniel Pearl`s killer out of jail, the military said.

The LeJ`s Naeem Bokhari and Sabir Khan, as well as Farooq Bhatti, deputy chief of al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), were captured by Pakistani forces in recent raids, Lieutenant General Asim Bajwa told a press conference on Friday.

The 97 men had been involved in multiple major attacks on Pakistani air bases, a major airport and police installations, Bajwa said.

Several of those arrested, including Bokhari, were in the advanced stages of planning a jailbreak attempt on the Hyderabad Central Jail, Bajwa said.

Khalid Omar Sheikh, who kidnapped and killed the Wall Street Journal`s Daniel Pearl in 2002, is being held at that jail and was to be released during the raid, he said.