Pakistani police are investigating a plot to kill the Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in a gun and suicide bomb attack at his house.

Authorities arrested a group of Islamic militants in connection to the case. Police said the attack was in its "final planning stages."

The seven men in custody confessed to receiving orders from Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a group associated with the Taliban.

The suspects are believed to have taken part in an attack last year on the offices of Pakistan's main spy agency in Multan.

Officials said the men were also conspiring to kill Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and the minister for religious affairs.