RAWALPINDI: Police claimed to have arrested nine suspected terrorists and seized 100kg of explosives, detonators and other material during a raid on Thursday.

According to City Police Officer Rao Iqbal, the suspects belonged to a group formed by a Kenyan national who himself was killed during a terrorist attack.

Addressing a press conference, he said the arrests were made when police and elite force personnel raided a house in the city’s Dhoke Lakhan area.

They also seized four motorbikes, one car, detonators with wires, nut and bolts weighing 20 kg, one timer, four hand-grenades and eight pistols.

One of the detained suspects is Dr Abdul Razzaq of the Cantonment Hospital who has been missing for some time and his case is in the Lahore High Court in Islamabad.

The CPO said the terrorist gang had indirect links with the militant group of Baitullah Mehsud in Wana.

He said they had confessed to having carried out a number of terrorist attacks, including the RA Bazaar bombing in which seven army personnel were killed, assassination of Lt-Gen Mushtaq Ahmed Baig, Melody suicide attack on police force, blast outside the Danish embassy and heinous attack on Italian restaurant.

The terrorists, Rao Iqbal said, were planning a suicide attack during the March 23 Pakistan Day parade.

The terrorists were identified as Mohammad Ilyas alias Qari Jamil, Mohammad Rizwan alias Shamasul Haq, Faisal Ahmed Khan, Zeeshan Jaleel, Mohammad Sarfraz, Mohammad Naeem Shakir, Mohammad Nadeem and Osama Bin Waheed, besides

Dr Abul Razzaq.

The CPO said more members of the gang would be arrested soon.