Pakistani police raid suspected terrorists hide-out

Police and intelligence agents raided a suspected terrorist hide-out in eastern Pakistan today, arresting at least 12 people after a prolonged gun battle, officials said.

At least four of those arrested in the raid in Gujrat were foreigners, said Saadatullah Khan, the chief of police for Punjab province, where Gujrat is located.

Security forces returned fire after they were attacked from inside the home and the stand-off lasted for about six hours, Mr Khan said.

It was not clear what the suspects were accused of doing, or what group they belonged to.

“This will come to the surface once our investigations are completed,” Mr Khan said. He had no details on where the foreigners were from.

Two AK-47 rifles, two computers, computer diskettes, and a “large amount” of foreign currency was found at the home, said Raja Munawar, the chief of police in Gujrat.

He said the suspects belonged to a “religious terrorist group” without specifying any organisation by name.

An official at the Interior Ministry in the capital Islamabad confirmed the arrests, saying one of the suspects was wounded in the shootout.

Officials were interrogating the suspects to determine their links with any terrorist group but none of them appeared to be senior figures, said Abdul Rauf Chaudhry, a spokesman for the ministry.

An intelligence official in Lahore, speaking on condition of anonymity, said an Uzbek woman was among the suspects arrested in the raid.

He said another terror suspect, who was already in custody, accompanied intelligence agents, indicating he led the security forces to the home. That man was not identified.

Pakistan is an ally of the United States in the campaign against terrorism. It has handed over more than 500 al-Qaida suspects to the Americans since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.