Title: Pak police round up over 500 suspects after Karachi blast
Author:  
Publication: Hindustan Times
Date: May 9, 2002
URL: http://www.hindustantimes.com/nonfram/090502/dlfor45.asp

AFP
Islamabad, May 9
The Pakistani police have rounded up more than 500 people from extremist groups with suspected links to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda after a suicide bombing which killed 14 people including 11 French nationals, sources said.

"More than 500 suspects have been detained in the countrywide crackdown on extremist elements," a source in the Interior Ministry told AFP.

"It is an ongoing operation. The majority of these people belong to sectarian and jihadi parties who are suspected of having links with the Taliban and Al-Qaeda."

The source said the operation was launched on the direct instructions of President Pervez Musharraf in response to the car bombing outside the Sheraton Hotel in Karachi on Wednesday. Three Pakistanis were also killed when an unidentified man rammed a car loaded with explosives into a minibus carrying the French naval workers as they prepared to leave the hotel for work.

The Interior Ministry official said the detainees were only wanted for questioning and many could be quickly released.

"These people will be scrutinised and if they are not involved with any of the terrorist groups, they will be released," he said.

"This is a security operation launched on the instructions of President Musharraf after the Karachi blast."