January 20, 2008	Sunday	Muharram 10, 1429

SARGODHA, Jan 19: The police have arrested three ‘potential suicide bombers’, who were tasked to spread havoc during Ashura processions, police sources told Dawn on Saturday.

Earlier, the police announced on Saturday morning that three suicide bombers had entered the city. However, no official was ready to confirm or deny the news regarding the arrest of three alleged terrorists.

Later, Dawn learnt that the police had already arrested them along with their five accomplices, who were arrested from Mela Mandi ground’s vicinity and were to launch a suicide attack on the official residences of the regional police officer (RPO) and the district police officer (DPO) on University Road a few days ago.

Earlier, the local police authorities distributed a photograph of a ‘potential suicide bomber’ among the organisers of Ashura processions and all others responsible to maintain security to warn them, urging them to clamp down on all suspects wearing pullover and jackets or wrapped up in shawls (chaddar) having resemblance to the man photographed. The security in-charges concerned were also told not to allow any one, including any mourner, violating this dress code to even approach the procession or enter any Majlis-i-Aza gathering at imambargahs.

The police officials also made frequent announcements on loudspeakers from mosques and imambargahs, apprehending a suicide attack on any Ashura procession or gathering.

The mourners took out Ashura processions amid stern security. The police also curtailed the processions’ routes to avoid any untoward incident.

The police stopped motorcyclists and other commuters from parking their vehicles near imambargahs. They strictly banned every kind of vehicular traffic along side the processions. Children and women were the worst sufferers of this ban and mourners too seemed annoyed when they were forced to pass through the process of scanning and frisking.

The main Zuljinnah procession was brought out from Block 23. Several small processions taken out from various city areas joined the main procession heading towards Imambargah Block No 7 on Saturday night.

Later, police sources told Dawn that the three suspected suicide bombers (posed to be arrested on Saturday) were the accomplices of five suicide bombers named in the FIR registered with Cantonment police against perpetrators arrested for planning suicide attacks on the residences of the RPO and the DPO on University Road.

However, there were doubts on the police’s claim of arresting five ‘would-be’ suicide bombers. If the five men were wearing suicide jackets, then why they did not prefer blowing themselves up instead of being captured?