Pakistani police say they have arrested six operatives of a banned Sunni Muslim extremist group who allegedly were planning to carry out a suicide attack on a Shi'ite mosque.
Police arrested the suspects Friday in an early morning raid on their hideout in the rural town of Rahim Yar Khan in central Punjab province. They say explosives and three explosive belts were recovered.
Police say they were planning to target a Shi'ite place of worship in Rahim Yar Khan with a suicide attack when they were captured. The would-be bomber was said to be among the six suspects.
All of them are said to belong to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a group outlawed in 2001.
Pakistan's majority Sunni and minority Shi'ite communities largely co-exist in peace. But militants from the two sides have a history of violence that has claimed thousands of lives in the past decade.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP.
