ISLAMABAD, July 20: Pakistani government and intelligence officials on Wednesday denied media reports that a major suspected Al Qaeda figure linked to the July 7 London attacks had been arrested.

Information Minister Sheikh Rashid rejected the reports which said Pakistani security agencies had arrested a Briton of Pakistani descent, Haroon Rashid Aswad, during a raid.

“We have arrested no one with the name of Haroon Rashid,” the minister said. “The reports in this regard are untrue. I deny it.”

A senior security official said: “We have made no such arrest in Pakistan. We have not yet been able to track down the linkages of the three London bombers here who travelled to Pakistan before the attacks.

“Reports in various media that we have arrested anyone with direct links to the London bombing are 300 per cent wrong,” said the official, who heads an intelligence network in the eastern city of Lahore.

The media reports had said Rashid was arrested during raids in Lahore and Karachi, and that he was being interrogated over his alleged role in the attacks in London that killed 56 people and wounded 700.—AFP