Italy arrests Pakistani accused of Peshawar blasts

Rome, June 26

A Pakistani suspected of involvement in thePeshawarmarket bombing - one of the country's bloodiest attacks - has been arrested inRome, Italian police said today.

The man, who has been living inItaly, is accused of taking part in the attack in 2009 in which 134 died, including many women and children. He was held atRome's Fiumicino airport after stepping off a flight fromPakistan.

Anti-terrorist police believe he also hid a "suspected suicide attacker who was supposed to carry out an attack" inItaly.

In April,Italyclaimed to have dismantled an Islamist terror cell on theislandofSardinialed by two former bodyguards of Osama bin Laden who were plotting a possible attack on theVatican.

Arrest warrants were issued for 18 people, several of whom are also suspected of being part of Islamist networks inPakistan.

Nine were arrested acrossItaly, including three onSardinia.

TheVaticanhas played down the threat to the pope's life. — AFP