KABUL, Oct 2: Twenty-five suspected militants were arrested in a pre-dawn swoop and a cache of explosives was seized in Kabul, officials and intelligence sources said on Saturday.

An Afghan intelligence source said the men were detained after a shipping container holding explosives, rockets and a waistcoat of the type used in suicide bombings was discovered.

Lieutenant Commander Ken Mackillop of the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Afghanistan told a news conference the men were arrested early on Saturday in the Pul-i-Charkhi area of eastern Kabul.

The men had "reported ties" to Al-Qaeda terror network, the ousted Taliban regime and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Mackillop said.

The raid was led by the Afghan National Directorate of Security backed by troops from the US-led coalition and NATO, which heads the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

Commander Mackillop said nobody was injured in the raid but gave no further details, citing security reasons.

The Afghan intelligence source, said the security forces had been tipped off about the container, which was said to hold seven suicide vests. All the other information proved accurate, but six vests were missing, possibly distributed to bombers, he said

A spokesman for the US-led coalition, Major Scott Nelson, said that "we are coming closer to a more dangerous time".-AFP