ISLAMABAD, May 10: In the countrywide crackdown against militant organizations initiated after the suicide bombing in Karachi over 400 activists were rounded up till Friday afternoon, official sources said.

All those who had been arrested since the terrorist attack in Karachi were on a list of religious activists tagged as “Category A,” a source at the interior ministry said.

The whole list of “Category A” activists contained more than 1200 names which were considered potential threat and dangerous, he said.

The source, giving the province-wise break-up of the arrests being made by the law-enforcement agencies, said that around 129 activists had been arrested in Punjab, 131 in the NWFP, 75 in Sindh and 68 in Balochistan.

The activists belonged to Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan, Jaish-i-Mohammad, Lashkar-i-Tayyaba and Tehrik-i-Jaffria Pakistan.

He further said that around 230 to 240 activists belonged to Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan, 60 to Jaish-i-Mohammad, 55 to Lashkar-i-Tayyaba and 60 to the TJP.

Meanwhile, Information Minister Nisar Memon has said that in the on-going crackdown the second tier leadership of the extremist outfits is being arrested.

During his visit to Dawn’s Islamabad office on Friday, Mr Memon disclosed that a French investigation team had already arrived to assist Pakistan intelligence agencies. Besides the French team, a team of US Federal Bureau of Investigation was also involved in the investigation process.