Pakistan arrests key suspect in Lahore bombing that killed 3

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani security forces on Thursday arrested one of the alleged perpetrators of a car bombing that killed three people and wounded 25 others near the residence of a jailed anti-India militant leader in the eastern city of Lahore, officials said.

The man behind Wednesday’s attack was arrested from Lahore airport as he was trying to leave the country, said Suhail Ahmad, a security official who is familiar with the investigations. He identified the man as Pakistani David Peter.

Ahmad refused to share any further details. He said the government will issue a statement about a breakthrough that was achieved by the Punjab Counter-Terrorism Department with the help of the country’s intelligence agencies.

The latest development comes hours after Pakistan’s interior minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said in a video message on Twitter that the Punjab police were close to arresting those responsible for the car bombing in Lahore.

The powerful explosion in the Johar Town neighborhood a day earlier was near the residence of anti-India militant leader Hafiz Saeed, who has been designated a terrorist by the U.S. Justice Department and has a $10 million bounty on his head.

Saeed is the founder of the outlawed Lashkar-e-Taiba group, which was blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people. He escaped the Wednesday bombing unharmed, but the windows of his home were shattered.

Last year, Pakistan sentenced Saeed to 15 years in jail in a terror-financing case, but he was never charged in connection with the Mumbai attacks. He has been serving the jail term at home under government order.

Saeed’s Lashkar-e-Taiba was active for years mainly in Kashmir, which is split between Pakistan and India and is claimed by both in its entirety. In the Indian-controlled sector of Kashmir, rebels have been fighting against Indian rule since 1989. Most Muslim Kashmiris support the rebel goal that the territory be united either under Pakistani rule, or as an independent country.

Pakistan and India have a history of bitter relations and they have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir since gaining independence in 1947.

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Tanveer reported from Multan, Pakistan.

Babar Dogar And Asim Tanveer, The Associated Press