RAWALPINDI, Jan 18: Police have traced a network of 19 people suspected of involvement in the July 30 suicide attack on Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in Fateh Jhang, and arrested three brothers belonging to the banned Jaish-i-Mohammad and Jamaatul Furqan organizations.

This was announced by the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Iftikhar Ahmed, at a press conference here on Tuesday. He identified the three brothers as Nisar Ahmed, Abdul Basit and Abdul Muneem.

Amjad Farooqi, who was allegedly involved in an assassination attempt on President General Pervez Musharraf and was killed in a shoot-out with police, is believed to be the mastermind of the attack on Mr Aziz when he was visiting Fateh Jhang in connection with his election campaign.

The DIG said that Amjad Farooqi had persuaded Obaid and Irfan, also known as Zeeshan and Shani, to carry out the suicide attack on Mr Aziz. According to the investigation, the DIG said, Obaid and Irfan were opposed to the government's Afghanistan and Iraq policies.

Irfan, who carried C-4 explosives wrapped around his waist, was among seven people killed in the suicide attack. Mr Aziz had escaped unhurt. The DIG said that according to the plan Irfan and Obaid were to attack Mr Aziz's car from two sides immediately after the public meeting which Mr Aziz had addressed.

While Irfan reached the designated point and detonated his explosives-laden belt, Obaid failed to do so. The DIG said that Obaid, a resident of Kohat, and his other accomplices left the place and went to a house in the nearby Awan Pura village.