June 24, 2002	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 12, 1423

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PESHAWAR, June 23: Five suspected Al Qaeda members are being interrogated by Pakistan intelligence experts after being arrested near here, police said on Sunday.

Two Arabic-speaking men, two Afghans and one Pakistani were arrested in an overnight swoop on the Afghan Support Committee (ASC) — a non-governmental organisation in Pabbi, a small town 20 kilometres from here.

A computer desk, CDs and files were seized and the suspects have been handed over to a joint civil and military interrogation team, police said.

The ASC is a Kuwait-based group reportedly set up by Osama bin Laden, alleged mastermind of the Sept 11 terror attacks in the United States and leader of the Al Qaeda network.

Senior ASC official Hussein Halil, from Jordan, is still in custody after being arrested in Pabbi on suspicion of Al Qaeda links in the last week of May.

The US government blocked the ASC’s assets in January because it said it had “financed and facilitated terrorism,” according to the state department website.

Pakistan has arrested more than 300 Al Qaeda suspects since December.—AFP