Some residents said the forces appeared to be allowing the Sunni insurgent groups to fight Al Qaeda.

On 1 May, more attacks took place against a Sunni group of fighters backed by the government and in a Shia area.

Two of the recently detained men, described as senior members of the Sunni group, were seized several days ago, the police said.

Many other Sunni political groups have done the same.

In the last meeting, committee members said each Sunni group came with different lists of names, making for unwieldy negotiations.

This time, Sunni political groups with links to the insurgency had candidates in the election.

Like his brother, he too was a member of the Sunni Islamist militant group.

Some of the Sunni militant groups have known links to the Pakistani military and its intelligence agencies.

Islam, mainly of the Sunni group, is practiced by 4% of the population according to the government census.

Their home and their car were bombed by a Sunni group, they said.