Pakistan nabs 'important man'
2005-07-20 11:05
Islamabad - Police have detained a man with direct links to the London bombings amid a crackdown that has led to the arrests of dozens of suspected militants, an intelligence official said Wednesday.
"We have an important man in our custody," the senior intelligence official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. "I am not in a position to disclose his name right now, but the maximum that I can tell you is that he has some direct links with the London attacks."
Speaking in the eastern city of Lahore, the official declined to say when the man was arrested, or elaborate on his alleged links with the London bombings.
"We have apprehended several suspects, more arrests are in the offing," Lahore police chief Tariq Salim said. "It will continue until they are rooted out."
Pakistani security officials on Wednesday denied a British newspaper report that a major al-Qaeda figure linked to the July 7 London attacks had been arrested.
The London Times earlier reported that Pakistani police on Tuesday seized a major figure from the al-Qaeda network who was suspected of having close links with the London bombers.
The report said the Pakistani was arrested during raids in Lahore and Karachi, and that he was under interrogation over the alleged role he played in the attacks in London that killed at least 56 people and wounded 700. - AFP/AP