QUETTA, July 21: Police claimed on Monday to have foiled an attempt to carry out a series of car bomb blasts in the city and arrested five saboteurs, two of them Afghan Tajiks.

Addressing a press conference, Quetta CCPO Mohammad Akbar Arain said that acting on information that three vehicles with explosive devices had entered the city police raided the house of one Haji Mohammad Rasool in Kashmirabad area and arrested brothers Asmatullah and Rohullah who were manufacturing an explosive device.

Three other people, Mohammad Usman, Mohammad Dawood and Haji Mohammad Rasool, were arrested from the same house.

He said that explosive substances were packed in the car’s doors.

When asked about any foreign involvement, he said: “Two of the terrorists are Tajiks from Afghanistan’s Kandhar province.”

He said that bomb disposal personnel had defused the explosives.

He said the car seized by police had been stolen from Karachi a few months ago.

Police also seized 13 live detonators and 10 mobile phones connected with the detonators.

Around 22 to 25 kilograms of explosive material had been packed in the car.

He said that police conducted another raid on information provided by the detained terrorists and found another car in an abandoned garage in Kuchlak area.

He said that the seizure of 650 kilograms of explosives last month, a motorcycle blast in Manan Chowk area and Monday’s arrests were interlinked.