PESHAWAR, Feb 19: A federal security agency has arrested a key suspect in assassination attempts on the president and the prime minister, sources told Dawn on Saturday.

The agency picked up one Mansoor in Peshawar last week in connection with the attempt on the life of President Gen Pervez Musharraf in Rawalpindi on Dec 26, 2003, sources said.

Mr Mansoor, who carries a head money, was also suspected of involvement in the assassination attempt on Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in Attock district on July 30, 2004, the sources said. They said the suspect, a resident of Azad Kashmir, was a member of an extremist group.

They said another suspect in the assassination attempt on the president was arrested in Kohat last week. Both the suspects had been shifted to some unknown location for interrogation, the sources said.