PESHAWAR, Dec 31: Almost 151 Al-Qaeda men, most of them Arabs, detained in a prison at Kohat would be shifted to Kandahar for interrogation, reliable official sources told Dawn here on Monday.

“The US-led coalition wants to shift the Al-Qaeda detainees to Kandahar, Afghanistan, from Kohat to interrogate them there,” senior official sources said.

“The process (of shifting) might well have been started as the US investigation agencies want to thoroughly interrogate the Al-Qaeda prisoners,” said the sources.

An understanding in the matter between the government of Pakistan and the coalition is already there.

The Al-Qaeda detainees, belonging to Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Egypt and some other countries of the Arabian peninsula, would be flown to the coalition forces’ base at Kandahar in batches.

“They (Americans) want to interrogate the Al-Qaeda members at Kandahar after preliminary investigations at Kohat by the Pakistani and FBI investigators,” said the sources.

According to some other sources, at least four are likely to be shifted to Islamabad for onward extradition to their respective countries.