QUETTA, Oct 1: Police arrested nine Taliban suspects from a private hospital on the Sariab road here on Sunday. “Six of the suspects were injured and three were their attendants,” Crimes Investigation Department chief Rehmatullah Niazi said.

Sources said that the suspects had been arrested during a CID raid on Al-Khidmat Hospital, run by Jamaat-i-Islami.

“They are all Afghan nationals hailing from Kandahar, Hilmand, Zabol and Oruzgan provinces, and brought a few days back for treatment,” Mr Niazi said, adding that they had been booked under the foreigners act as they were not carrying any documents.

He said that they would be handed over to the Afghan government after interrogation.

Police were considering action against the hospital administration for failing to inform law-enforcement agencies about the presence of foreign nationals despite clear instructions from the government, he added.

The injured had been shifted to the Civil Hospital under police custody.

Those arrested are: Niamatullah, Mohammad Khorat, Mohammad Naeem, Asmatullah, Jumma Gul, Hameedullah, Bour Jan, Mohammad Ismail and Rehmatullah.