04 July 2004	Sunday	15 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

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KARACHI, July 3: A Pakistan court on Saturday remanded to police custody two doctors accused of having links with Al Qaeda and a local terror group involved in last month's attack on a military convoy which killed 11 people, officials said.

Dr Akmal Waheed, a renowned heart specialist, and his brother Dr Arshad Waheed, an Orthopaedic surgeon, were arrested here on Friday.

"They were produced before an anti-terrorism court and the court has remanded them in police custody until July 15 for interrogation," chief police investigator Fayyaz Leghari told AFP.

He said the doctors were suspected of giving medical treatment to Al Qaeda militants, including foreigners.

"We are interrogating them for providing shelter, medical treatment and other assistance to Al Qaeda terrorists, including foreigners," Mr Leghari said.

"They treated them in their private clinic in Malir and also provided refuge to wanted Al Qaeda fugitives."

Mr Leghari said police arrested the doctors after gleaning information from the interrogation of the alleged ringleader of the militant group Jundallah, which is blamed for the June 10 attack on a convoy which killed seven soldiers, three policemen and a passer-by.

Police have arrested nine members of the group, saying the group had links with Al Qaeda fighters hiding in the South Waziristan tribal region near the Afghanistan border.

Akmal, who is also the head of the Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA) and Arshad were taken from their homes June 17, family members said.

"My husband was arrested on June 17 and he is innocent," Akmal's wife Dr Fouzia Waheed said.

Police said the organization used to do welfare work in Afghanistan under the Taliban regime before it was ousted by a US-led international coalition in late 2001 in the wake of Sept 11 terror attacks on United States.-AFP