PAKISTAN ARRESTS 600
Pakistani security forces have rounded up 600 suspected Islamic militants and clerics in a crackdown following the July 7 London terror attacks.
In the ongoing raids, police and security agencies are rounding up even more suspects across the country and in Kashmir.
Of those arrested, 295 belonged to militant groups banned by President Pervez Musharraf in the past three years.
A senior interior ministry official said: "They have been held under the Anti Terrorism Act, which gives police authority to keep them under detention for a year without indicting them before a court."
The remaining 300 detainees included clerics, mosque prayer leaders and others taken into custody for inciting anti-Western and sectarian hatred through sermons and provocative literature, he said.
"The campaign against militancy and extremism is ongoing, and the police is on alert to nab elements promoting extremism and violence," the official said.
Police launched the raids after Prime Minister Tony Blair urged Pakistan to move against radical madrassas or Islamic schools following news that some of the London bombers had recently visited the South Asian country.
Three of the suicide bombers were of Pakistani origin.
Pakistani security forces have rounded up 600 suspected Islamic militants and clerics in a crackdown following the July 7 London terror attacks.
In the ongoing raids, police and security agencies are rounding up even more suspects across the country and in Kashmir.
Of those arrested, 295 belonged to militant groups banned by President Pervez Musharraf in the past three years.
A senior interior ministry official said: "They have been held under the Anti Terrorism Act, which gives police authority to keep them under detention for a year without indicting them before a court."
The remaining 300 detainees included clerics, mosque prayer leaders and others taken into custody for inciting anti-Western and sectarian hatred through sermons and provocative literature, he said.
"The campaign against militancy and extremism is ongoing, and the police is on alert to nab elements promoting extremism and violence," the official said.
Police launched the raids after Prime Minister Tony Blair urged Pakistan to move against radical madrassas or Islamic schools following news that some of the London bombers had recently visited the South Asian country.
Three of the suicide bombers were of Pakistani origin.
