Pakistan bust gang supplying human ordinance to Taliban

AFP:

Pakistani intelligence has busted a gang of Islamic militants supplying suicide bombers and explosive devices to Taliban fighters in neighbouring Afghanistan, police said Sunday.

The eight-member group led by former fighters of the banned Jaish-e-Mohammad militant faction was based in Quetta, the capital of southwestern Baluchistan province, a senior police official said.

They used to collect materials and volunteers from the central province of Punjab, the official said, requesting anonymity. The suspects were arrested in Punjab over the past few days.

"During the interrogation they confessed to having carried out a series of suicide bombings and bomb blasts against foreign forces in Afghanistan over the past several years," he said.

He identified the gang leaders as Mufti Saghir Ahmed, a veteran of the 1980s war against invading Soviet troops in Afghanistan, and wanted militant Mohammad Safeer. Both are members of the Jaish group, he said.

"The suspects were preparing remote-controlled devices for the Taliban in Afghanistan," the official said.

...

These arrest must have come as a surprise to many in the Pakistan government which has claimed that the human bombs were not coming from their territory. It was certainly no surprise to the Afghans and their US and NATO allies that these people were coming from Pakistan. the big surprise is that the Paks actually took some action against them.