PAKISTAN: Police foil a plot to blow up a restaurant in Islamabad's diplomatic enclave that is frequented by foreigners, and government buildings

Record ID: 344047

  • Title: PAKISTAN: Police foil a plot to blow up a restaurant in Islamabad's diplomatic enclave that is frequented by foreigners, and government buildings
  • Date: 23rd March 2010
  • Summary: ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (MARCH 22, 2010) (ORIGINALLY 4:3 MATERIAL) (REUTERS) (*** FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY **) VARIOUS OF ISLAMABAD'S ACTING POLICE CHIEF BANI AMIN KAHAN BRIEFING MEDIA JOURNALISTS TAKING NOTES KHAN TALKING TO MEMBERS OF THE MEDIA AS ALLEGED MILITANT WEARING BLACK HOOD STANDS BY HIM (SOUNDBITE) (Urdu) ISLAMABAD'S ACTING POLICE CHIEF BANI AMIN KHAN SAYING: "His first target was F-8 Kachehri, where he had to launch two suicide bombers simultaneously. Then they had planned to attack "15" (police rescue unit), a telecommunications building, F-10 (area) girls' college, the Serena hotel and the French Club and to kidnap some foreigners." ALLEGED MILITANT STANDING WITH POLICEMAN SUICIDE JACKET ON DISPLAY TO MEDIA ALLEGED MILITANT TALKING TO MEDIA/POLICEMEN STANDING (SOUNDBITE) (Urdu) ALLEGED MILITANT NOOR JAHAN SAYING: "They paid me 50,000 rupees for the first blast and 40,000 rupees for the second blast." WIDE OF BRIEFING ZOOM IN TO ALLEGED MILITANT
  • Embargoed: 7th April 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Pakistan
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Topics: Police
  • Reuters ID: LVA6581PIPHPZDO0464W51RYDYCM
  • Story Text: Pakistani police have foiled a plot to blow up a restaurant in Islamabad's diplomatic enclave that is frequented by foreigners, and government buildings, a police official said Monday (March 22).
    Militants associated with Qari Hussain, known as the Taliban's "mentor of suicide bombers," were arrested before they could attack the Serena Hotel and the French Club restaurant in the heavily guarded diplomatic zone, Bani Amin Khan, Islamabad's acting police chief, told a news conference.
    Other targets included courts and a telecommunications office, Khan said.
    "His first target was F-8 Kachehri where he had to launch two suicide bombers simultaneously. Then they had planned to attack "15" (police rescue unit, a telecommunications building, F-10 (area) girls' college, the Serena hotel and the French Club and to kidnap some foreigners," Khan told members of the media Taliban insurgents have previously attacked Western targets in a bid to destabilise the U.S.-backed-government of President Asif Ali Zardari, as part of a violent campaign to frighten away foreign investors.
    An alleged militant wearing a black hood stood up beside police officials and told the news conference that he helped carry out the suicide attacks on the U.N. World Food Programme and near Pakistan's Naval Complex in the capital city last year.
    He said he participated in the planning of the attacks and provided logistics and suicide jackets to the bombers, in return for money paid to him by the Taliban.
    'They paid me 50,000 rupees for the first blast and 40,000 rupees for the second blast," said the hooded man, who said he was a former paramilitary soldier named Noor Jahan.
    Police said they arrested the man who called himself Noor Jahan and a second man, named as Rehmat Gul, and seized a suicide jacket and pistol from them.
    They said the militants had planned to carry out attacks on government buildings on March 23, Pakistan's National Day.
    Despite major security offensives that have smashed their strongholds and a campaign of U.S. drone strikes that have killed militant leaders, al Qaeda-backed Taliban fighters have managed to carry out suicide bombings across Pakistan.
    In the October 2009 attack on the U.N. World Food Programme, a suicide bomber dressed as a paramilitary soldier attacked the office, killing five staff members.
    In June 2009, two foreign U.N. workers were killed in a suicide car bomb attack on a hotel in the northwestern city of Peshawar.
    Pakistani police have foiled a plot to blow up a restaurant in Islamabad's diplomatic enclave, a police official said at a news conference at which a hooded alleged militant was paraded to members of the media.
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