RAWALPINDI, June 7: An anti-terrorism court on Saturday remanded six suspected terrorists in police custody for ten days. They were arrested recently from a densely populated locality in Sadiqabad area along with three explosive laden vehicles.

The investigators sought their custody to extract information about the source that supplied them the explosive material.

A case (291/08) has been registered against the accused under sections 4, 5 of Explosive Act, 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of Pakistan Penal Code and section 7 of Anti Terrorism Act with Sadiqabad police station.

The accused Abdul Manan, a resident of Rawalpindi, Abid Khan, resident of Tank, Mohammad Ishaq, a resident of Peshawar, Muhammad Kabir, a resident of Hawalian, Qamaruz Zaman, a resident of Dera Ismail Khan and Zafar Ali, a resident of Kohat, were brought to the court in two armoured personnel carriers (APCs). They were not taken out of the vehicles apparently for security reasons.

According to details, Rawalpindi police along with other security agencies cordoned off an area in Dhoke Kala Khan on a tip-off and carried out a search and seized three explosive laden vehicles and arrested six men.

According to Rehman A Malik advisor to Prime Minister on Interior, three of the six arrested men were suicide bombers and they could target sensitive places in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

The law enforcing agencies have seized three vehicles laden with over 1,000 kg explosive materials. According to a police source the explosive was concealed in different parts of two four wheelers and a car.

Meanwhile, the ATC-I put off the hearing in 21 cases against the former chief cleric of Lal Masjid Maulana Abdul Aziz till June 28 after his lawyer moved applications under section 23 of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.

The court was to frame charges against the accused in all cases but after the application for the transfer of 15 cases to a regular court as they did not fall under the jurisdiction of the ATC, the judge adjourned the hearing and stated that the arguments on the application would be completed on the next hearing date.

The lawyer of the Maulana, Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui argued in the application that the section 6/7 of ATA were inserted later in the FIRs and the incidents and the record produced by the police did not make them terrorism cases. The lawyer sought elimination of ATA sections in police officials abduction, Chinese national kidnapping, children library occupation, violation of law and order, violation of 144, burning of CDs and delivering of inflammatory speeches.