RAWALPINDI, Oct 14: The eight Al-Qaeda suspects arrested by the law-enforcement agencies in connection with the planting of Russian-made rockets in different parts of Rawalpindi and Islamabad last week, were remanded in police custody for seven days by an Anti-Terrorist Court on Saturday.

The accused, who had their faces covered in masks, were produced in the court of Judge Safdar Hussain Malik amidst tight security by the Islamabad police commandos.

The eight accused — Nadeem Yousuf, Mohammad Abdullah Khan, Jawad Hussain, Khyzir Hayat, Sikandar Ali, Tahir Ali, Abid Bashir and Sadar Shahzad — would be produced before the ATC Judge Safdar Hussain Malik on October 21 after the completion of their physical remand.

Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao had stated at a press conference on Friday that the arrests had been made by intelligence agencies by tracing the cellphone calls the accused had made to activate detonators of the rockets. Later, the accused were handed over to the ICT police who produced them in the ATC No 2 in Rawalpindi on Saturday.

Mr Sherpao also said a group of terrorists wanted to create chaos and sense of insecurity among people in the twin cities by planting anti-tank rockets at three different places in the Ayub Park near Army House, in front of the federal secretariat in Islamabad and at Shakarparian.