ISLAMABAD: Police on Monday arrested a suspected militant in the federal capital and seized suicide bomb making material to be used in a possible terror strike in the city, officials said.

“We have arrested a suspect from near Aabpara Market,” a police official told AFP.

“The man belongs to South Waziristan and he was carrying two hand grenades, detonators, a switch used in suicide jackets, batteries, wires and explosives, “the official said on condition of anonymity.

Islamabad's Aabpara Market is a busy marketplace close to sensitive Red Zone that houses key government buildings and embassies.

According to the initial investigation the suspect was due to meet another man in the capital to assemble a suicide bombing jacket and carry out a terrorist attack, the official added.

Police were hunting the other suspects in the plot, he said.

Another police official confirmed the arrest.

Pakistan has been battling militant groups in the northwest and its semi-autonomous tribal belt since 2004, after its army entered the tribal region to search for Al-Qaeda fighters who had fled across the border following the US-led invasion of Afghanistan.

In June the army began a major offensive against militant hideouts in the North Waziristan tribal agency, a stronghold for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.