More al-Qaida arrests in Pakistan

Several more arrests of al-Qaida suspects have been made in Pakistan in the past several days, including one man arrested trying to leave the country from an airport in the eastern city of Lahore, and another arrested in a nearby town, police said.

The arrests were all made in the last 72 hours and the suspects were being interrogated, the government official said in Islamabad.

One of the men arrested identified himself as a Syrian named Juma Ibrahim. He was taken in on Sunday in Hafizabad, a town near Lahore, said district police chief Aslam Ghauri.

He said the man told authorities that he was in the town for business, but had no references and could not say who he was meeting with, Ghauri said.

The man has been turned over to Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan’s spy agency, Ghauri said.

A senior government official said another man had been arrested trying to board a plane in Lahore with several questionable documents. He would give no details.

“We have made several arrests of al-Qaida linked people,” said the official. It was not clear where the other arrest was made or how significant the suspects are.

The official said the men were believed linked to other al-Qaida suspects detained recently.