Arrest over Sheraton bomb attack

The attack outside a Karachi hotel killed 11 Frenchmen in June 2002

A suspected militant allegedly involved in the blast that killed 11 Frenchmen in June 2002 has been arrested in the Pakistani city of Karachi.

Mohammad Sohail was arrested on Wednesday after a shoot-out with the police in which five of his accomplices managed to escape, officials said.

Sohail was sentenced to death in absentia in 2003 after being found guilty of involvement in the attack.

The authorities have claimed a number of recent successes against militants.

'Still interrogating'

Suspect Mohammad Sohail fell off his motorbike during the shoot-out as five of his accomplices managed to escape, the police said.

Police say they have launched a city-wide manhunt for his accomplices.

"It would be premature to give [any] details which could affect the probe as we are still interrogating him," an official told the AFP.

He is reported to be a member of the outlawed militant group Harkat Jihad-ul-Islami.

The authorities say the group has been responsible for several bomb attacks in Pakistan in recent years including the 2002 attack outside the Sheraton hotel in Karachi which killed 11 French engineers and three Pakistanis.

Sohail is one of three men sentenced to death in the case.

Officials on Wednesday said Sohail was also being interrogated for possible involvement in other cases.

These include the abduction and murder of Wall Street journalist Daniel Pearl and an attack on President Musharraf in the northern city of Rawalpindi in December 2003.