Pakistan: Arrested Britons 'supplied information'

Intelligence agents arrested two British nationals of Pakistani origin who provided information on the terror plot aimed at blowing up US-bound passenger jets from Britain, a senior government official said today.

One suspect was arrested in the eastern city of Lahore and the second was picked up in Karachi, Pakistan's main port on the Arabian Sea, the official said on condition of anonymity because he did not have authority to speak formally on the issue.

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"Our intelligence agencies made the arrests about one week ago," he said. He did not have details on whether the suspects have links with al-Qa'ida or any Pakistani militant group.

And today, a government official said five Pakistanis had been arrested as suspected "facilitators" for the two Britons.

An official at the British High Commission in Islamabad could not confirm the initial arrests, and referred questions to Pakistan's government.

Pakistan's government said yesterday that it had played "a very important role" in uncovering the plot — allegedly to bring down as many as 10 jets in a nearly simultaneous strike that US officials say was suggestive of an al-Qa'ida operation.

Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said today that Pakistan had made some arrests, but refused to give details.

Several Pakistani intelligence officials also confirmed the arrest of a third suspect in the eastern city of Faisalabad four or five days ago, but could provide no details on the suspect's identity or nationality. They said they expected more arrests would follow.

British authorities arrested 24 people yesterday based partly on intelligence from Pakistan. The suspects were believed to be mainly British Muslims, at least some of Pakistani ancestry.

Two US officials said British, American and Pakistani investigators were trying to trace the steps of the suspects in Pakistan and were seeking to determine whether a couple of them had attended terrorist training camps there.

A Pakistani intelligence official said an Islamic militant arrested near the Afghan-Pakistan border several weeks ago provided a lead that played a role in "unearthing the plot." The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Pakistan, a key ally of Britain and the US in the war on terrorism, has been long been regarded as a center of Islamic militancy.

Three of the four suicide attackers in the July 7, 2005, bombings on the London transport system that killed 52 people were British Muslims of Pakistani origin and had visited Pakistan before the attacks.

One of the bombers visited a pro-Taliban seminary run by the hard-line Jamaat al-Dawat group in the eastern city of Lahore before the blasts, but officials in Islamabad say none of the London bombers received militant training or support during their visits.

On Thursday, Pakistan placed the hard-line group's leader, Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, under house arrest for a month in Lahore, but officials said it wasn't linked to the aircraft plot. Lahore police chief Khawaja Khalid Farooq said authorities feared Saeed's plans to address a rally Saturday could lead to unrest.

Saeed formerly headed the militant group Lashkar-e-Tayyaba until 2002 when it was banned by President Gen. Pervez Musharraf because of suspected terrorist links. This April, Washington put Jamaat al-Dawat on a list of terrorist organizations for its links to Lashkar-e-Tayyaba.

Pakistan has suffered repeated terrorist attacks by Islamic militants, and has waged a counterterrorism campaign since the 9/11 attacks on America, after it ended its support for the Taliban regime that had hosted Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.

It has launched military operations against Islamic militants along the Afghan border and arrested key al-Qa'ida leaders, including 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Pakistan today stepped up security at airports, preventing hand-carried luggage on all flights, but state carrier Pakistan International Airways reported no delays and said a flight would depart on schedule for London's Heathrow airport around midday.