4 Al-Qaeda terrorists arrested for planning major attacks in Karachi

Four suspected Al-Qaeda terrorists were arrested for allegedly planning major attacks in Karachi, police said here on Monday.

The militants were produced before an anti-terrorism court, which send them to a 10-day police remand.

According to Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) in-charge Raja Umar, the four terrorists, arrested on Sunday, were planning attacks on the Karachi Stock Exchange, the police training centre and the city court.

They had recently returned from Afghanistan after getting training there and explosives, detonators, hand grenades, weapons, videos, maps and communication devices were recovered from their possession, he said.

"Today they were presented in the ATC, which has given us their 10-day remand," Umar said.

"They had carried out reconnaissance of the Karachi Stock Exchange, the city court and the police training centre," he said.

Umar said the militants -- Umar, Bilal, Aamir and Waseem -- during questioning have revealed that they were led by a high profile terrorist, Muhammad Hanif alias Zarrar, who was operating from Afghanistan.

"The four had established a safe house in Karachi and were apparently waiting for the right time to carry out their terror attacks," he said.