March 15, 2008	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 6, 1429

LAHORE, March 14: A US team comprising forensic and technical experts visited the Federal Investigation Agency’s provincial headquarters here on Friday and examined the explosives used in Tuesday’s suicide attack.

Sources said the team had arrived from Iraq and it would stay here for a few days before leaving for Islamabad.

They said the possibility of another team arriving from the United States could not be ruled out.

The local law-enforcement agencies are trying to keep the activities of the US team under wraps because of security concerns and Lahore police chief Malik Iqbal refused to speak on the issue.

FIA Director-General Tariq Pervaiz said the agency had not requested the interior ministry to invite foreign forensic and technical experts to assist in the investigation.

He confirmed the presence of the foreign team in the city but said that he had no information about the “assistance they are providing to the local investigators”.

Two police teams headed by Deputy Inspector-General, Investigation, Tussadaq Husain are probing into the twin blasts in collaboration with the FIA’s Special Investigation Group.

Police have yet to find a clue to the attackers although about two dozen activists of banned organisations have been taken into custody on suspicion of having acted as ‘facilitators’.