Pakistan's security agency uncovered a plot to kill President Asif Ali Zardari and rounded up eight alleged participants, Dawn newspaper reported Saturday.
Sources told the Pakistani newspaper the alleged terrorists intended to assassinate Zardari during a visit to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences.
The sources said the arrests followed the interception of a May 15 call in which two of the suspects discussed plans for a suicide attack while Zardari was at the institute to check on his ailing father. Security agents arrested one member of the group about three weeks ago and their interrogation of him led to the other suspects, Dawn said.
Authorities have taken more than two dozen other people into custody for their alleged links with the alleged assassination plotters, the newspaper's sources said.
The names of the suspects had not been released.