A Pakistani official, identified as Hassan Iqbal, said suspects detained in Dera Ghazi Khan came from Turkey, Sudan, Russia and Iran, the Anatolia news agency reported on Saturday. Out of the 12 arrested terrorists, seven are Turkish, three are Sudanese, one is Iranian and one is Russian. Pakistani security forces also seized a laptop computer and $10,000 along with the suspects. Iqbal stated that detainees were believed to be linked to the Taliban and that they were captured on their way to a tribal region in southern Waziristan, where they would join other militant groups. It is also noted that police are investigating the suspects' connection with al-Qaeda, the members of which are believed to enter the country from Iran. Punjab state police official Muhammad Rizvan said, “There is one certain thing, and this is that they are terrorists.”
Pakistan has deployed more than 100,000 troops to tribal regions since the Sept. 11 attacks in the US. Pakistan security forces have captured around 1,000 suspects including some senior aides to al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in the past several years.
