Al Qaida-linked groups 'reach Karachi'

Islamabad: Banned extremist groups being used by Al Qaida have penetrated into Karachi, Pakistan's largest city and financial capital, interior ministry head Rehman Malek said on Friday.

He made the statement during a high-level meeting chaired by President Asif Ali Zardari in Karachi on the security situation in the port city, according to the official media. Malek, advisor to prime minister on interior, said Al Qaida had been using outlawed Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Sipah-e-Sahaba and Tehreek-e-Taliban for carrying out terrorist acts. He said there were 17,000 seminaries in the country and 3,000 of them were in Karachi alone.

"We will regularise them in consultation with all the scholars of all schools of religious thought," he said. Malek added that 50 new armoured personnel carriers would be delivered by China in the next two months.