Police said they arrested the leader of a banned militant group on Friday, February 22 in connection with sectarian attacks in the northwestern city of Quetta that have killed nearly 200 people this year, Reuters reported.

Two bombings about month apart targeting the minority Shi'ite community in Quetta, claimed by the Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), sparked demonstrations across the country and the dismissal of the local government.

Police said they arrested LeJ leader, Malik Ishaq, in the town of Rahim Yar Khan at his home on Friday afternoon.

"LeJ has accepted responsibility for the recent Quetta blast and Ishaq is its supreme commander. That's why we have arrested him and 24 other LeJ militants," said Zafar Chatta, the district police officer.

The LeJ claimed responsibility for a blast that killed 85 people on Saturday in the provincial capital of Quetta. It also claimed responsibility for blasts on January 9 that killed 96 in the same city.

It was unclear why authorities did not arrest Ishaq, who was living openly at his home protected by gunmen, after the LeJ claimed the first bombing.

Pakistani leaders have done little to contain hardline Sunni Muslim groups which have stepped up a campaign of bombings and assassinations of Shi'ites in a bid to destabilize the nuclear-armed country and install a Sunni theocracy.