ISLAMABAD, Nov 16: Police launched a big security sweep in the federal capital territory late Friday to catch “a white car bearing a diplomatic registration plate” which intelligence said was on the lose with two suicide bombers.

A senior police officer confided to Dawn that the intelligence said the terrorists might strike some target in the “high security zone” of Islamabad.

Presence of the US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte in the city heightened the safety concerns for local authorities.

Police officers sent to hunt down the suspicious car were said to have instructions to attempt to intercept it “from a distance”.

Concrete blocks were moved to strategic points on the roads leading to the “high security zone”. The barriers disrupted the flow of traffic but were necessary to keep a vigil for the wanted car.

After the intelligence arrived that suicide bombers were on the lose in a white car, the threat level in the city was hastily raised even higher than the “red alert” under which the security forces had been operating since the proclamation of state of emergency on November 3.

Reinforcements were rushed to police pickets all over the city and security was specially beefed up around a five-star hotel in the “red zone” where a wedding ceremony was on attended by dignitaries and elite of the city.