KARACHI, Pakistan – Intelligence agencies have received "credible reports" that terrorists are planning to strike in Pakistan on or around the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks in New York and Washington, a top police official said Wednesday.
Maj. Gen. Salahuddin Satti, chief of the paramilitary Pakistani Rangers, said potential targets include both foreign and domestic organizations throughout the country, including foreign missions, police and military installations and churches.
"We have credible reports that terrorists may strike again to convey their message on and around Sept. 11," Satti said during a news conference at the Rangers' headquarters in the southern port city of Karachi. "Our intelligence and security agencies are on alert."
Satti said that for security reasons he would not reveal specific information that intelligence agencies had received about possible targets.
"Comprehensive security plans have been chalked out ... and we are prepared to check any sabotage attempt," he said.
Islamic militants opposed to President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's support for the U.S.-led war on terrorism have waged numerous attacks on foreigners and Christians in Pakistan following the Sept. 11 attacks.
Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and murdered in Karachi in January, a suicide bomber in Karachi killed 11 French engineers in May and a car-bomb outside the U.S. Consulate here in June killed 12 Pakistanis.
Earlier this month, militants attacked a Christian school and a Christian hospital near Islamabad, killing 11, including one of the attackers.
The militants also attacked a church in Islamabad's heavily guarded diplomatic quarter in March, killing five people, including an American woman and her teenage daughter.
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