QUETTA, April 4: Four foreigners suspected of having links with Al Qaeda have been arrested from the Dera Murad Jamali area of Nasirabad district. They were travelling in a Peshawar-bound bus.

“The suspects are Turkish nationals. They were going to Jacobabad when security officials intercepted the bus on Thursday night,” sources told Dawn. They were handed over to the authorities in Quetta for interrogation.

According to sources, the bus coming from Quetta was intercepted by the Frontier Corps personnel on a tip-off. A large quantity of high explosives, 1,600 rounds of sub-machine gun, a laptop, 10 Jihadi books, CDs and a digital camera were found in their possession.

Fake Afghan refugee cards and dollars and riyals were also seized.

The sources said that three of the suspects carried Turkish passports, while the fourth man, also a Turkish national, had no travel documents.

“They might have links with Al Qaeda,” the sources said, adding that initial investigations suggested that they were planning to attack an airbase in Jacobabad being used by the US for providing logistic support to its forces in the region.