ISLAMABAD, Aug 21 (AFP) - Pakistani security agencies have arrested nearly a dozen Al-Qaeda linked terror suspects who had plotted to attack key sites including military headquarters, the US embassy and parliament, officials said late Saturday.
The arrested men included locals and foreigners, Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat told AFP.
The arrests were made around the country's Independence Day that was celebrated on August 14 amid tight security.
Some of the attacks were to be launched during the Independence Day celebrations while the others were planned for other days, Hayat said.
"We have arrested close to a dozen militants including some foreigners and have aborted their plot to create widespread mayhem in the country," he said.
Hayat did not identify the arrested men but said some of them were suspected to have links with Osama bin Laden's terror network.
"The security agencies have also recovered a large cache of sophisticated weapons which were to be used in the attacks," the minister said.
Information Minister Sheikh Rashid told a news conference later Saturday the conspiracy if successful could have killed hundreds of people.
"These people were planning to carry out destructive and bloody terrorist attacks during a week-long time starting from August 13," he said.
"We are looking for three or four more suspects in connect with the plot."
Hayat said the mastermind of these attacks was an Egyptian Al-Qaeda linked operative.
He said the arrests were made between August 11 and 15, but gave no reason why the announcement was delayed.
The haul is the latest in a stepped up crackdown to hunt down Al-Qaeda linked suspects launched in mid-July. Since then more than 60 have been taken into custody from different parts of the country.
Among those earlier arrested were Al Qaeda's Pakistani computer whizz Naeem Noor Khan and Tanzanian Ahmad Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian suspected of involvement in the 1998 bombing of US embassies in East Africa.
Information gleaned from the key operatives led to disclosure of plots to launch attacks in Pakistan, US and Britain.