'Valuable' al-Qaida leaders arrested

Pakistani authorities have arrested five more suspected members of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network in the past 48 hours, including “valuable targets”.

A senior government official said the arrests were made during raids in different parts of the country and the detainees were being questioned in an effort to capture remnants of al-Qaida.

“Our forces raided some places in the past two days and captured five terrorists, including foreigners, who are valuable targets,” the official said in Islamabad.

Pakistan’s Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed confirmed the arrests, but refused to give any further details.

The suspects were not identified, and it was not clear if any were on the FBI list of most-wanted terrorists.