Pakistani authorities said six men suspected pf planning to carry out suicide bomb attacks have been arrested in Rawalpindi, Reuters reports. The arrests follow al-Qaeda’s suicide car bomb attack on the Danish embassy that killed six people.

“We have arrested suspected suicide bombers,” said Rao Iqbal police chief of Rawalpindi, according to the same source. “We have recovered three vehicles with a large quantity of explosives from the Dhok Kala Khan area,” he added.

It appears that the security forces found several explosives, which amounted to nearly 500 kilograms.

“It was a major terrorist plot aimed at causing death and destruction in the twin cities,” a senior security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Al-Qaeda claimed in an Internet statement Wednesday to have carried out the attack on the Danish mission as a revenge for the publication in Danish newspapers of the controversial cartoons insulting Islam’s Prophet Mohammed.

Security in the capital was tightest along Constitution Avenue the broad duel carriageway leading to the presidency building, National Assembly, Supreme Court, various ministries and the diplomatic enclave where many embassies are located.

The city of Rawalpindi lies 12km (seven miles) south of the capital of Islamabad and is the headquarters of Pakistan’s military. It also houses the residence of President Pervez Musharraf.

Authorities say such installations may have been the target of the planned sucide bomb attacks.