Militants held after swoop on hideouts

PAKISTAN’S COUNTER- TERRORISM police and the country’s intelligence agency raided hideouts of an outlawed Shi’ite militant group in the eastern Punjab province and arrested seven suspects.

Police say they allegedly wanted to attack leaders of rival Sunni Muslim groups, a spokesman said.

In a statement, the Punjab Counter- Terrorism Department said the suspects from the outlawed Sipah- e- Mohammad group were arrested in three separate raids over the previous 24 hours from cities of Sargodha, Khusab and Sahiwal.

It said officers seized bombmaking material and guns that were to be used in sectarian attacks by the arrested men.

The suspects were being directed by militant leader Mehmood Iqbal, who was hiding in a neighbouring country, officials said.

Authorities did not name the country but officials have previously blamed Iran for backing Shiite militants.

Pakistani security forces often make such arrests, but the latest ones came just after Sunni militants killed 11 Shi’ite coal miners they had abducted from southwestern Baluchistan.

Angered over Sunday’s killing of coal miners, hundreds of minority Shiites from the Hazara community have since been rallying in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province.

The murdered coal miners were also from the Hazara community, which has repeatedly been targeted by Sunni militants, including an Islamic State affiliate that claimed responsibility for the abduction and killing of the miners about 30 miles east of Quetta.

Under Islamic tradition, burials take place as quickly as possible after death.

But Shi’ites were refusing to bury the dead.

They also said they would not hold funerals until authorities arrest the killers.

Islamic State and other Sunni extremist groups view Shiites as apostates.