Pakistan 'extremist leader' held

ISLAMABAD, Thursday (BBC) - Pakistan's security forces say they have arrested a militant leader wanted in connection with attacks that have killed dozens of minority Shia Muslims.

Asif Chotu, said to be a senior figure in the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Sunni Muslim group, was arrested close to the capital, Islamabad, officials said.

Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao refused to confirm or deny the reports.

About 4,000 people have died in Pakistan in the past 25 years of sectarian strife.

The BBC's Aamer Ahmed Khan in Karachi says the arrest of Asif Chotu would be a major coup for the Pakistani security forces.

He says Asif Chotu is credited with reorganising Lashkar-e-Jhangvi after its top figures were either arrested or killed between 2001 and 2003.

The details of Mr Chotu's arrest remain confused.

Some reports say he was detained in a raid on a home near the capital, others that he was arrested when a car was stopped on the road between Rawalpindi and Lahore.

Police have linked Mr. Chotu to attacks on Shias in Karachi and Sialkot. The most deadly was the attack on a Shia mosque in Sialkot in October 2004 that left 30 people dead.

The latest attack police have linked Mr Chotu to is that on a Shia mosque in Karachi on 30 May this year. It sparked a riot that left six people dead.

Police say they found a letter written by Mr Chotu in the possession of one of the arrested mosque attackers.

One security official told the AFP news agency: "He was the most wanted sectarian militant in Pakistan."

He said another Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militant, named Rashid, alias Shahid Satti, was arrested with Mr Chotu.