KARACHI, Feb 15: Police have arrested 10 members of a militant organisation linked to the Taliban. They were planning massive terror attacks in the city during the elections, a senior police official said on Friday.

Addressing a press conference, IG Sindh Azhar Ali Farooqi said the militant outfit, Tehrik-i-Islami Lashkar-i-Muhammadi, had ties with Mullah Dadullah, Taliban Commandar Tahir and Sirajul Haq Haqqani. A large quantity of explosives found in their possession was seized.

He said the group was planning attacks on political and religious leaders and philanthropists, adding that it had also obtained lists of members of the Rotary and Lions clubs and Theosophical Society.

“They had plans to sabotage the election process. The city and the province as a whole have been saved from a major disaster,” Mr Farooqi said.

According to a press release issued by the Sindh police, a warning letter by the group addressed to military institutions, intelligence agencies and police read: “You people have become part of the conspiracies hatched by the infidels. You have lost the difference between friends and foes and you are fighting against your fellow countrymen and the Mujahideen. Now you have two options before you -- become protectors of Islam and the country and turn against those who order you to act against the fellow countrymen.”

Mr Farooqi said the arrested men were formerly members of other banned outfits, like Jaish-i-Mohammed and Harkatul Mujahideen, but after the Lal Masjid operation they formed a group of their own because their former organisations had ‘deviated’ from their mission.

About their funding, the IG said that the main financier of the group had been identified as Mohammad Hassan Hamid Amir who was absconding. The group also looted banks to generate funds, he said.

The IG Sindh said that police had also seized a lab in the Korangi Industrial Area where new recruits were given training in making bomb and booby traps and in spying techniques. The men were involved in the killing of Liaquat Husain, Dara Feroz Mirza and Dr Hameedullah.

SP Operations CID Raja Umar Khattab told Dawn that the group had got information from the three victims about members of the Rotary and Lions clubs and Theosophical Society for preparing a hit-list.

In 2007, the outfit looted 150 walky-talkies and laptops from a shop. The looted items were handed over to Taliban Commandar Tahir in Sohrab Goth who delivered them to Dadullah.

The arrested men are Asif Iqbal alias K. Area Wala, Yasir Afaq alias Nasir alias Saad, Mohammad Jan alias Mustafa, Abdul Wahid alias Zubair, Ziaul Abdeen alias Zain, Mohammad Asif, Inyatullah Khan alias Tauseef, Mohammad Arshad alias Asad, Mohammad Zeeshan alias Shani alias Mustan Baloch and Mohammad Ahmed alias Waseem.

Two members of the group, Mohammad Kashif and Mohammad Bin Ahmed, were arrested in 2007. Police seized three SMGs, one rifle, two pistols, four hand-grenades, 30 detonators, two bombs, 5kg of petroleum jelly, five walky-talkies, 10kg of RDX, 15kg of prepared explosive, CDs, maps, hundreds of bullets and two motorcycles.