GUANTANAMO BAY, Oct 14: Indicating that some Pakistani nationals were still incarcerated in the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba, General Jay W. Hood said that Islamabad had been a ‘tremendous ally’ in the effort to apprehend terrorism suspects.

Pakistan has so far arrested and handed over more than 600 Al Qaeda and Taliban suspects to the US. President Pervez Musharraf recently said that Pakistan’s efforts had put the two terrorist outfits in disarray, forcing them to reduce their activities.

“President Musharraf certainly has more access to information than I do, so I will not comment on his statement,” said Gen Hood. “But recent communications by Al Qaeda leaders show that they are still thinking and operating.”

Gen Hood, who commands the Joint Task Force that protects US prison facilities in Guantanamo, told a group of visiting Muslim journalists that his men were still retrieving useful information from more than 500 suspects kept in Cuba.

He said that information received from these suspects had led to more arrests in countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan. “Pakistan has been a tremendous ally to the US in this effort and it has been very clear to us,” he added.

Asked if the detainees still included Pakistani nationals, the general said: “You can safely say that.”

Gen Hood has replaced Maj-Gen Geoffrey Miller, who was accused of allowing prison abuses in Guantanamo and later at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison.