QUETTA: Frontier Corps (FC), a Pakistani paramilitary force, claimed to have arrested 22 suspects involved in attacks on US and Nato supplies and targeted killings in Balochistan's industrial city of Hub on Thursday.

A spokesman of FC, who did not wish to be named, told Dawn.com that the forces conducted search operation against militants and picked up 22 of them from Lasbela district.

He said 10 of the accused belong to Lyari Gang War, involved in a series of criminal activities in Karachi's troubled area of Lyari. However, remaining 12 militants were involved in attack at US and Nato containers in Hub.

The spokesman said the land cruiser used in an attack on Nato oil tankers was also recovered by the forces during the search operation.

Armed militants had torched 22 Nato oil tankers parked outside a roadside hotel few days back in the same area.

“Militants were picked up without any resistance,” the spokesman said. Huge quantity of arms and ammunition were also recovered from their possession. He said the seized weapons include 400 kilogram explosives, 4000 rounds, 4 Kalashnikov and other weapons during the search operation.

“Senior officers are interrogating the accused,” he said.

Inspector General FC, Major General Muhammad Ejaz Shahid in a statement has hailed the action and assured the masses that the elements involved in lawlessness would not be spared.

In another development, Court for Suppression of Terrorist Activities has ordered the release of former Nazim Quetta and a leader of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Mir Maqbool Lehri.

Lehri was arrested by frontier corps in the aftermath of recovery of 100 tons of explosive materials from his warehouse.

ATC Judge, Tariq Anwar Kasi granted a bail of Rs1 million to the former Nazim of Quetta. Following court order, the Nazim was released and a large number of PPP supporters including its president Mir Sadiq Umrani received him from District Jail Quetta.

Overland oil shipments to Nato troops in landlocked Afghanistan resumed through Pakistan less than two weeks ago under tighter security after a five-month suspension due to attacks.

Pakistani contractors had stopped driving oil supplies from Karachi to the Torkham border crossing in the northwest due to frequent attacks on their vehicles.

The Nato combat mission is due to end next year. Pakistan and the United States have signed a deal allowing Nato supply convoys to travel into Afghanistan until the end of 2015.