TERRORISM: FIVE AL-QAEDA SUSPECTS ARRESTED IN PAKISTAN

Quetta, 23 June (AKI/DAWN) - Pakistan's interior minister, Aftab Khan Sherpaoon confirmed Friday the arrest of five foreigners who were on their way to Wana in South Waziristan from Zhob in the south-western province of Baluchistan. "They are all foreigners and may be linked to al-Qaeda. Four of them are Turks and one is Afghan,” official sources said, adding that the suspects who were arrested on Thursday had been handed over to the authorities concerned.

The sources said Frontier Corps personnel arrested the suspects at the Sambaza checkpost near the Afghan border while they were travelling in a bus.

They said the five — Yilmaz, Ozer-Orhan, Sahim Arslan, Mohammad Kutuco (all Turkish) and Abdul Rehman (an Afghan) — were suspected to have links with the group fighting forces in South Waziristan.

The Frontier Corps is also reported to have arrested 22 Afghan nationals at the Chaman border after they had crossed into Pakistan without legal documents.