Karachi, April 1 (Reuters): Pakistani police arrested a suspected Islamic militant with explosives today and some officials said he had been plotting an attack on the Prime Minister but others denied the Premier was a target.

The man, a member of the outlawed Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, was found with about six kg of explosives, a hand grenade, several detonators and bomb making material, said police inspector Amjad Kayani. “The big target was the Prime Minister,” he said, adding that the suspect had planned to plant explosives on a bridge.

A senior provincial government official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, also said Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali was the suspect’s target. But provincial police chief Syed Kamal Shah denied the Prime Minister had been singled out for attack.

“This arrest is not connected to any security threat to a VIP,” Shah said. Jamali had arrived in Karachi today for a two-day visit. President Pervez Musharraf survived two bomb assassination attempts in December. Police arrested the suspect, Naeem Baloch, early today, said Muneer Sheikh, a police bomb disposal official.

The Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has ties with the Taliban militia, which ruled Afghanistan, and al Qaida, the Osama bin Laden network blamed for the Madrid train bombings last month and the September 11, 2001, attacks. A string of high-profile attacks on western targets, government officials and religious minorities in Pakistan, including Shias and Christians, have been linked to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. In February, police said they had foiled an attack by two key Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militants, also in Karachi.

Three militants were convicted by a Karachi court in October 2003 over a failed assassination attempt on Musharraf the previous year. They were sentenced to 10-year jail terms.

Tension is high in Pakistan following a raid involving about 5,000 troops on 400 al Qaida and other fighters in the tribal region of South Waziristan near the Afghan border that ended on Sunday.