July 18, 2007	Wednesday	Rajab 02, 1428

RAWALPINDI, July 17: The security agencies, investigating the firing of the sub-machine gun shots apparently at President Pervez Musharraf’s plane from the rooftop of a Rawalpindi house earlier this month, have picked up two low-ranking personnel of the Pakistan Air Force for questioning, Dawn has learnt.

The agencies have also picked up five suspects who are alleged to have links with a militant organisation. The investigators are looking into the question whether they have any direct involvement in the firing incident.

A cellphone number on a receipt found from the rooftop of the house is reported to have led to the arrest of a retired PAF man, Gulzar Hussain, and his son-in-law, a serving airforce man.

When contacted, ISPR Director-General Maj-Gen Waheed Arshad said he was not aware of the arrest of the PAF personnel. He said that five suspects having links with a militant group had been arrested and were being investigated by the authorities concerned, but declined to give further details.

A security official claimed that the assailants who fired the machine gun shots and were unable to use the two anti-aircraft guns lying with them had links abroad.

The security personnel have so far failed to trace the assailants. The man who was living in the house as tenant, identified as Ahmed Khan, is also untraceable.

The two-storey house, owned by Haji Mohammad Ashrar, was located right beneath the flight path of planes taking off from the Islamabad international airport.

The tenant had purchased two motorcycles from a local dealer during his stay in the house and purchase receipts of the bikes were found from the rooftop of the house.

A cellphone number written on one of the receipts helped the investigators reach a person, Haroon Rashid, a resident of the sector E-9 in Islamabad. Sources said that a resident of the Asghar Mall road house who made a call to Haroon had been missing since the firing incident.

The cellphone number also helped the investigators trace the PAF personnel.