Pakistan arrests head of al-Qaida linked militant group

Pakistani security officials said today they foiled new terror attacks with the arrest of the head of an al-Qaida linked extremist group accused of killing scores of minority Shiite Muslims.

“Of course, he was planning attacks, and his arrest means we broke their backbone,” a security official said of reputed Lashkar-e-Jhangvi chief Asif Chotto, who was captured this week with seven suspected members of the banned group in Rawalpindi city near the capital, Islamabad.