ISLAMABAD, Aug 18: The police have detained five Somalis near Afghanistan on suspicion of having links with the Al Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden, a government official said here on Sunday.

The Somalis were rounded up in the northwestern city of Peshawar last week when police found they were staying in Pakistan without visas, a senior Home Department official in the city told Reuters.

“Any Arab who stays in the country without valid permission is a suspect to us,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. Pakistan, a key partner in the US-led war on terror, has arrested hundreds of foreign nationals who may have crossed into Pakistan to escape hunt of Al Qaeda suspects in neighbouring Afghanistan.—Reuters