GILGIT, April 30: The Northern Areas police have claimed that they had arrested four suspected militants involved in different cases of murder and bomb blasts following Jan 8 sectarian violence in Gilgit.

A statement issued by the police said they have arrested the ‘real’ culprits involved in a blast on April 16 at a Naltar mosque and identified them as Yusuf Ali son of Ghulam Rasool and Safdar Abbas son of Asghar Ali residents of Lower Naltar. They had settled in Chilmisdas.

It said the accused hurled two home-made devices into the mosque but one of them did not go off while three persons were injured.

Police also claimed that they had arrested a proclaimed offender Shah Qalandar son of Mir Ghazi resident of the Lower Bargu from Chakkarkote for his involvement in the abduction and subsequent murder of two of the villagers Ijlal Hussain and Azam Ali on Feb 21 in Bargu village and threw their bodies into the Gilgit River.

The police said they had booked another proclaimed offender Saeedur Rahman son of Anwar Khan from Konodas Colony during a siege of the locality. They claimed that Rahman was involved in the murder of Hayder Ali son of Abdullah, resident of Bargu on March 10. The police said they had also arrested Haroon son of Lodan, Sher Alam son of Haroon, Khushjan son of Janee and Sher Ghulam son of Ahmed Khan for their involvement on the charges of committing murders and murder attempts during the recent sectarian frenzy in Gilgit.—Correspondent