Islamabad: Pakistan on April 30 claimed to have averted a major terrorist strike by busting a "high- profile" al-Qaida gang in Karachi and arresting six people, including a Yemenese national wanted in connection with the October 2000 suicide bombing of American warship USS Cole.

The six arrested members of the gang included Waleed Mohammad bin Attash, the prime accused in suicide attack on USS Cole in Yemen, in which 17 people were killed, an Interior Ministry spokesman said.

A huge cache of arms and ammunition was also recovered from the gang, he said.

About 150 kgs of explosives – detonators, capacitators, grenades, a truck load of sulphur – which were accumulated for a terrorist attack, were seized from the gang, he said.

The gang was planning a major terrorist attack in Pakistan before it was busted, the spokesman was quoted by the state television as saying.

In another development, hackers attacked the government of Pakistan's websites, 'Geo News' channel reported.

The hackers launched "distributed denial of service attack" on the government websites, it quoted director of state-owned Comsats Internet services, Pervez Butt, as saying.

In view of the attack, the government has decided to shift all its websites to the National Telecommunication Corporation, to spare them from attacks, he said.

Butt said Pakistan has not yet identified the country from where the hackers have launched the attack on the government websites.

PTI