KARACHI, Pakistan, July 9 (UPI) -- Police in Pakistan arrested a paramilitary officer Tuesday for allegedly plotting to assassinate President Gen. Pervez Musharraf with the help of a previously unknown religious group.
The man was implicated in the plot by two of three men detained for allegedly bombing the U.S. Consulate in Karachi and a bus carrying French navy engineers.
The consulate bombing suspects told police that in April they attempted to blow up Musharraf's motorcade. Director-General Pakistan Ranger Maj. Gen. Salahuddin Satti told a news conference in Karachi that one of his officers, Waseem Akhtar, provided "information to the suspects about the movements of the president when he visited Karachi in April."
Two men allegedly packed a truck with explosives and planted it "on the main road the president used for traveling to the city from the airport," Satti said.
"They later tried to blow it up when the presidential motorcade was passing by. Fortunately, the detonator did not work and the car did not explode," he added.
He said that the suspects used the same vehicle for the June 14 bombing the U.S. Consulate in Karachi, an attack that resulted in the deaths of 12 Pakistani citizens outside the consulate building.
The third consulate bombing suspect apparently but did not participate in the plot to kill Musharraf, police said.
Investigators are also looking into the possibility of the group's involvement in the suicide attack on French naval engineers in Karachi on May 8. Fourteen people, including 11 French engineers, were killed in the attack.
Police say that all three are associated with a previously unknown group called Lashkar-e-Tayyaba Alami, which they formed after splitting from the main Kashmiri militant outfit called Lashkar-e-Tayyaba.
Police said they are also probing the group's possible link to Osama bin Laden's al Qaida network. The three suspects have denied links with al Qaida, police said.
"But the quantity of arms and ammunition recovered from them shows that they have the support of some wealthy group or individuals, Satti said.
Police have recovered dozens of rocket launchers, explosives, grenades, automatic rifles, machineguns and pistols from the suspects.
Police say that the suspects have told them that they were attacking U.S. and Western targets because they were unhappy with the U.S. campaign against the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan, which they regarded as a true Islamic government.
A local magistrate has remanded all the suspects to the police until July 20 for further investigation.
