ISLAMABAD, Jan 31: Investigators said on Wednesday they had found leads linking a string of suicide bombings to Taliban militants, as the death toll from a wave of violence rose to 23.

They said six men arrested in Dera Ismail Khan at the weekend told interrogators about a web of militants, connected to a senior Taliban commander, who were plotting suicide and car bomb attacks across the country.

“During the investigations, we have got good clues suggesting the bombings were by militants based in the Waziristan tribal region,” a senior security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Security sources said the six men, who were arrested in raids in Dera Ismail Khan on Sunday, had given details about a network of insurgents in Waziristan planning bombings.

The men were linked to Baitullah Mahsud, a wanted Taliban commander allegedly in charge of thousands of fighters operating in the South and North Waziristan regions, the officials said.

“They told interrogators that Baitullah was unhappy with (the) army's killing of tribesmen in the name of action against the Taliban and Al Qaeda and he planned revenge attacks in other Pakistani cities,” an official familiar with the interrogation told AFP.

He said police in Dera Ismail Khan believed the 17-year-old who blew himself up on Monday was from South Waziristan and had contacts with the six arrested men.

A police source said they learned about the movements of the bomber in Dera Ismail Khan soon after the arrests but could not locate him.

Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema said investigations into the three suicide bombings were “going well, but it will be difficult to share any information at this stage.”

“All we can say is that our investigations are heading in the right direction,” he added.

Syed Irfan Raza adds: Investigators of the Marriott Hotel blast in Islamabad issued a sketch of the suicide bomber on Wednesday and claimed to have found vital leads in the case.

A security official told Dawn that the sketch of the terrorist was made after performing reconstructive surgery by putting together the bomber’s blown-up face found from the site of the blast. The surgery was conducted at a military hospital in Rawalpindi, he added.

The investigators have also received the autopsy report of the suicide bomber. The report has been sent to President General Pervez Musharraf and the interior ministry.

According to the report and features of the face, the bomber seems to be a resident of Northern Areas. With a height of 5.3 feet, the bomber is stated to be a man of 17 to 20 years. He had a fair complexion, with beard on his face.

The legs of the bomber found from the site are quite stiff and such features are found usually in the people living in mountainous areas, according to the security official.

Two close circuit cameras installed outside the hotel could not record the incident as they had stopped functioning just 20 minutes before the suicide bomber struck, he said.

The investigators also traced a call believed to be made by the suicide bomber by a mobile phone before blowing up the explosive tied around his body, the official said.

He said two suspects who had received the call of the bomber had been arrested. However, he was reluctant to disclose their identities and other details.

“The suicide bomber had informed them that he was going to commit the suicide attack,” he said.

The investigation team also contacted the National Database Registration Authority to get some clue to the identity of the bomber, about to no avail.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz presided over a law and order meeting which reviewed the recent spate of suicide bombings in the country. He was informed that Muharram was observed peacefully in the country, except in the NWFP.