﻿ Pakistan detains suspected fighters | News | Al Jazeera

Pakistan detains suspected fighters

Pakistani security forces have arrested 13 foreigners from Sudan, Kenya and South Africa in a suspected hideout in the eastern part of the country after a long gun battle.

    Suspected al-Qaida fighters face court trials in Pakistan

    Some of those arrested, including women and children, are suspected by Pakistan security of having ties to al-Qaida, reported Aljazeera's Islamabad correspondent, Ahmad Barakat on Sunday.

    Weapons and explosives were also netted during the raid, he said.

    The suspected rebels opened fire when police and other security agents besieged the house in which they were living in Gujarat city, 175km southeast of the capital Islamabad, on Friday evening.
    A policeman was slightly hurt in the shootout.

    "They are suspected to be terrorists," said Brigadier Javed Iqbal Cheema without elaborating. 

    Infant detained

    Raja Munnawar Husayn, a senior police official in Gujarat who took part in the operation, said those arrested were five men, three women and five children. "One of the children is an infant," he added.
    He said the security forces conducted the operation on a tip from an intelligence agency that militants were using the house as a hideout.
    Pakistan is an important ally in Washington's so-called "war on terror" and has vowed to rid the country of foreign fighters, many of whom have either slipped into big cities or are hiding in the rugged tribal region bordering Afghanistan.
    Pakistan has arrested hundreds of suspected al-Qaida fighters since the 9/11 attacks, including senior figures.

    SOURCE: Aljazeera + Agencies


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