Musharraf says junior officers tried to kill him

General Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan has said junior army and air force personnel were involved in attempts to kill him last …

General Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan has said junior army and air force personnel were involved in attempts to kill him last December.

Speaking to private Pakistani television channel Geo in an interview broadcast today, Gen Musharraf said several personnel had been arrested and would soon be tried in open court.

He said all those involved were "very junior" and there had been no involvement of senior military figures.

He said the men were directly involved in the first of two attacks on him, on December 14th, when an explosion blew up a bridge in the city of Rawalpindi near Islamabad moments after his motorcade passed over it.

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He said the men were not directly involved in a second attack, also in Rawalpindi on December 25th, in which 15 died, but did not make clear whether they had participated.

Diplomats have long suspected that the December attacks, both of which involved powerful explosions detonated close to Gen Musharraf 's motorcade, must have been carried out with the help of inside knowledge of the president's movements.

Some Islamic elements in the army are thought to be angry about Gen Musharraf 's policy of backing the US-led "war on terror" and concerned about his moves towards peace with India.