MIANWALI, Feb 9: Police have arrested six people allegedly belonging to various banned religious outfits in raids conducted at the offices of these groups and some seminaries in connection with a blast at Qudratabad checkpoint which killed eight security personnel.

The arrested suspects -- Mufti Zainul Abedeen of Madrassa Ilasia al Binat (Mianwali), Malik Sultan (Chakrala), Niamatullah and Ahsanullah (Dhaki, DI Khan) and two unidentified Afghan refugees from Kot Chandna Refugee Camp – have reportedly been shifted to an unknown place for investigation.

Sources said no arms and ammunition were found in the debris of the destroyed checkpoint, and it was presumed that the official weapons were taken away by the attacking terrorists. On Saturday, at about 3.30am terrorists had blown up Qudratabad police checkpoint on Mianwali-Lahore road, killing eight security personnel.

Meanwhile, DCO Wasim Ajmal Chaudhry on Monday visited all the five police checkpoints in the district bordering the NWFP -- Dara Tang, Qabul Khel, Kundal, Chashma Barrage, Tola Bangi Khel. The DCO has requested the provincial government to depute more police at these checkpoints in order to prevent terrorists from entering Punjab.