Pakistani forces nab 60 "suspected militants" near capital

Pakistani law enforcement agencies on Saturday arrested nearly 60 people over their suspected links with the militants near Islamabad, police said.

Police told reporters that two would-be suicide bombers were among the suspects.

A huge cache of arms, including 30 Kalashnikov rifles, ammunition, explosives, detonators and narcotics were recovered during an early morning raid in Tarnol in the outskirts of capital Islamabad.

Police said 10 were identified as militants from the country's tribal regions.

"The operation was conducted jointly by the paramilitary troops and the police on an intelligence report," a police officer said at a news briefing where the recovered arms and explosives were shown to the media persons.

He said that 50 suspects had arrived from the tribal regions while 10 others were Afghan refugees.

"All are now being questioned about their activities," the police officer said.

Meanwhile Customs Intelligence foiled a major terrorist bid in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Saturday and seized a container carrying nearly 30,000 km of explosives, officials said.

Director of Customs Intelligence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Muhammad Asghar Khan, told a press conference in Peshawar that the terrorists wanted to use this explosive material in carrying out terrorist activities, however, Customs Intelligence averted this major bid.

One person was arrested during the checking, he said. Endi