ISLAMABAD: Pakistani authorities have arrested an employee of the finance ministry on suspicion of links to militant groups, police said on Wednesday.

The suspect, identified as Sardar Ali Khattak, was on a hilltop near President Asif Ali Zardari's residence in Islamabad when apprehended.

“He is being interrogated. He was wanted in connection with a bomb blast in Rawalpindi a few months ago,” police official Hakim Khan said, referring to the garrison city adjoining Islamabad.

Police raided Khattak's house last week and recovered a suicide vest and other explosives, police said.

Finance Ministry officials said Khattak was an office boy and had been on leave for the past two years, and that they had no knowledge about his alleged links to any militant group.

Pakistan has seen a surge in violence by militants loyal to al Qaeda and Taliban since Osama bin Laden was killed by US special forces in a secret raid in a Pakistani town in May.

Militants have vowed revenge for bin Laden's death.