Islamabad, Aug. 22 (Reuters): Pakistan said its arrest of up to 10 al Qaida suspects had foiled a plot to kill hundreds in bomb attacks on its cities, officials and a government minister said today.

Two of Pakistan’s ministers said late yesterday the security agencies have arrested up to 10 al Qaida suspects, including two Egyptians, suspected of planning suicide attacks against the government and the US embassy.

“There were two groups, which wanted to carry out terrorist attacks. We have arrested nine people and four more are wanted,” information minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said today. “They had dumped weapons here and we are locating the man who has come from Afghanistan to operate in Rawalpindi and Islamabad,” Ahmed said.

Interior minister Faisal Saleh Hayat said yesterday that “eight to 10” people were being held including two Egyptians, Qari Ismail and Sheikh Essa. The two were suspected of being “key elements” of the group.

He had said the plots bore the hallmarks of Osama bin Laden’s al Qaida network and the men were found with “the latest gadgetry and equipment” besides rockets, grenades, rifles and a huge quantity of explosives. The group was planning attacks on the presidency, the military residence of President Pervez Musharraf, the US embassy, and the national convention centre. The targets are all in the capital Islamabad, or its adjoining city Rawalpindi.

Ahmed said two local heads of the groups, Ghulam Mustafa and Farooq Usman, had been arrested but the intelligence agencies were trying to catch the rest including one member who had come from Afghanistan through the tribal region.