KARACHI, Jan 19: One of the seven suspected Al Qaeda persons, arrested recently, was identified as Ameer Hussain Abdullah Al-Misri, an Egyptian national, the intelligence sources claimed on Monday.

The sources said that the efforts were being focused on establish the identities of five men and two women, picked up from an apartment in Cassim Complex in a pre-dawn raid on Sunday.

An official requesting anonymity said: "A man has been identified as Ameer Hussain Abdullah Al-Misri, but his name can be different from what is known now. He may be among those most wanted Al Qaeda men wanted by the US government."

He said that though the name of the suspect did not match the one included in the most wanted list, the investigators were trying hard to establish his real identity before finalizing their opinion. "If he is among the most wanted, it would be a great achievement for us," the official said. He said that the agents of the Federal Investigation Bureau (FBI) were likely to join the local investigators sometime on Tuesday. Without disclosing the location where the suspects were being lodged, he said thatthe arrangements were being made to shift them to Islamabad from where they were likely to be handed over to the US authorities.

The seven people, including two women, were picked up for their suspected links with Al Qaeda. Three children were also among those arrested. Five grenades, four TT pistols, a lot of ammunition and maps were recovered from them.

Two men of them were Egyptian nationals, three Afghans and two Arab women, probably of Egyptian origin, he said. The intelligence sources said that the apartment was rented out to Imran Maudood, a Pakistani national teaching Arabic in a local madressah. He hired the apartment for himself on paper and an agreement was signed between him and the landlord of the apartment at Rs4,000 rent per month in November 2003.

He had met the landlord, along with his veiled wife, and said that his family would reside there. The sources said that since the signing of the agreement Imran Maudood had disappeared.

Several Al Qaeda suspects had been picked up from various localities in the metropolis for the past two years and they were handed over to the US authorities for further investigation.