PESHAWAR, June 15, An anti-terrorism court on Tuesday remanded two alleged Afghan terrorists in police custody for seven days. Bedar Gul, son of Taza Gul, and Nadir, son of Ibraheem, were arrested by the police and accused of firing four missiles at different targets in the provincial capital on March 23.

The two Afghans were arrested from Monday and police found two Russian rockets in their possession. The arrests were made on information provided by them. Speaking at a press conference at the Police Headquarters on Monday evening, SSP (operations) Abid Ali said that the police, with the help of a civilian intelligence agency, arrested the two terrorists, who had fired four rockets in Peshawar on March 23, 2004.

He said that the two terrorists and their two accomplices had been hired by an anti-Pakistan element in Afghanistan. Ruling out any involvement of the Northern Alliance, which has been hostile to Pakistan for its support to the Taliban militia in the past, Mr Abid Ali said: "The anti-Pakistan group can be an individual warlord from Afghanistan."

"We have arrested them today and after initial interrogation both the Afghans have confessed to firing rockets after getting money from someone in the neighbouring country," he added.

He said that the information provided by the accused had led to the recovery of two live rockets from a deserted area behind the Pishtakhara police station, adding that they had fired rockets from the same spot. The accused had planned to fire the remaining rockets after receiving fresh instructions from their accomplice, who was still in Afghanistan, the SSP said.

Refusing to disclose their names, Mr Abid Ali said that one of the terrorists was arrested from the Hajizai refugees camp, while the other was netted from Pishtakhara refugees camp located in the city suburbs. He said that the seized rockets were Russian-made 107mm and also used by the terrorists in Balochistan.