Pakistani police say they have foiled a plot to kill the country's prime minister, foreign minister and some senior police, army and government officials.
Senior police official Abid Qadri said on Thursday authorities learned of the plot during the interrogation of seven militants arrested late on Wednesday.
Qadri says the men were apprehended after police tried to stop their car near a village in central Pakistan and the militants opened fire. Nobody was killed in the shootout that ensued.
Qadri says the men were also part of a group behind last year's attack on the main Pakistani spy agency in the central city of Multan that killed 12 people.
He did not say how close the men were to attacking prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
