<p>The law enforcement agencies came to know about the purported plan during the interrogation of a group of alleged militants arrested Wednesday after a shoot-out in Ahmadpur Sharqia near Bahawalpur district in the eastern province of Punjab.<br /><br />Senior district police officer, Abid Qadri, said initial investigations showed the suspects were planning to attack the prime minister, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and others.<br />He said they were part of the Qari Imran faction, a splinter group of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi extremist outfit, which has links to Al Qaeda and the Taliban.<br /><br />The group has been accused of involvement in several attacks, including one on the headquarters of Inter-Services Intelligence in Multan city in December that killed 12 people.<br />Qadri said more arrests were expected after the interrogation.<br /><br />Several Pakistani politicians have faced threats from militants but it is the first time that a plan to kill Gilani and Qureshi has come to light.<br /><br />Both leaders hail from Multan, around 80 km south-west of Bahawalpur, and regularly visit their hometown at weekends. </p>
<p>The law enforcement agencies came to know about the purported plan during the interrogation of a group of alleged militants arrested Wednesday after a shoot-out in Ahmadpur Sharqia near Bahawalpur district in the eastern province of Punjab.<br /><br />Senior district police officer, Abid Qadri, said initial investigations showed the suspects were planning to attack the prime minister, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and others.<br />He said they were part of the Qari Imran faction, a splinter group of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi extremist outfit, which has links to Al Qaeda and the Taliban.<br /><br />The group has been accused of involvement in several attacks, including one on the headquarters of Inter-Services Intelligence in Multan city in December that killed 12 people.<br />Qadri said more arrests were expected after the interrogation.<br /><br />Several Pakistani politicians have faced threats from militants but it is the first time that a plan to kill Gilani and Qureshi has come to light.<br /><br />Both leaders hail from Multan, around 80 km south-west of Bahawalpur, and regularly visit their hometown at weekends. </p>