Interior Minister Lt-Gen (retd) Hamid Nawaz on Tuesday claimed that the government had arrested a number of terrorists believed to be involved in the attack on PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto’s home-coming procession in Karachi on Oct 18.

Inaugurating the newly-constructed building of the Tarnol Police Station, the minister said the men were also behind terrorist attacks in Rawalpindi and the blowing up of an Air Force bus.

He did not comment when asked if the accused had any links with the terrorists who had assassinated the former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. He said the men were arrested in Mianwali and Sargodha and over 60kg explosive material had been seized.

Mr Hamid did not disclose the names of the terrorists saying that security agencies were trying to catch their accomplices.

He said that security forces would soon arrest Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud and militant Swat cleric Maulana Fazalullah.