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KARACHI, Thursday (AFP) Pakistani police have arrested seven suspected Islamic extremists, one of them believed to be involved in two deadly suicide bomb attacks in the southern city of Karachi, police sources said.

"They were arrested during a six-hour operation conducted in different neighbourhoods of the city," an interior ministry spokesman told AFP.

The spokesman said police also recovered a huge quantity of weapons and ammunition.

Police sources indentified two of the seven suspects as Sharib and Mufti Zubair, who were taken into custody from a house in southern Bahadurabad district.

They were living in an apartment block and had secretly installed a rocket launcher on the rooftop, the sources said.

Sharib, who carried a bounty of 1.5 million rupees (around 25,000 dollars), is wanted in connection with a May 8 bomb attack outside the Sheraton hotel and a June 14 attack outside the US consulate.

The Sheraton attack killed 11 French naval engineers and three Pakistanis including the attacker. Twelve Pakistanis including the bomber died in the consulate blast.

Sharib belongs to Harkatul Mujahideen al-Alaami. The group is an offshoot of the Harkatul Mujahedin, one of the main guerrilla groups fighting Indian rule in Kashmir.

Three Harkatul Mujahideen al-Alaami members are already on trial over the US consulate attack.

Police say the three also plotted to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf in Karachi in April but they have not been indicted.

Five other group members have appeared in court, accused of planning attacks on American fast food outlets in Karachi. 

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