Pak army foils attempt to free Pearl’s killer; 97 militants held

Karachi, February 12

Pakistan army today said it had arrested nearly 100 militants and foiled an imminent jailbreak attempt to free top al-Qaida leader Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, sentenced to death for the murder of Wall Street journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002.

The militants, belonging to top terror networks like the al-Qaida in the Indian Sub-Continent, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, had set up joint task team for carrying out terror attacks in the country, army spokesman Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa said.

“Our conclusion is that all terrorist groups are trying to cooperate with each other in order to carry out terrorist attacks,” he said.

Bajwa said as many as 97 militants, who had been involved in several major terror attacks, including on the Mehran airbase, Jinnah airport, PAF base in Kamra and several others, were arrested from Pakistan’s biggest city here.

The arrested militants were also planning Hyderabad jailbreak to release top al-Qaida leader Omar Sheikh, sentenced to death for the killing of 38-year-old Pearl, the South Asia bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal, while he was in Pakistan investigating a story on the alleged links between the country’s spy agency ISI and al-Qaida.

“This plan was 90 per cent ready for execution,” he said. The perpetrators had prepared two explosive-laden vans which they were supposed to ram into the gate of the prison, Bajwa said, adding the militants had also prepared a list of 35 prisoners they wanted to kill, while rescuing hundreds including Omar Sheikh. — PTI